


I Really Wanna Touch Somebody

by HisTwenty7Tattoos



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Hand Jobs, M/M, Top!Zayn, bottom!Liam, rich kid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-09
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-06 15:46:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 21,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3139847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HisTwenty7Tattoos/pseuds/HisTwenty7Tattoos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for this <a href="http://onesieliam.tumblr.com/post/89092525626/rich-kids-au-though-i-know-there-are-a-few-out"> prompt </a></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I hope I somewhat did this prompt justice, and I apologize if I didn't, this is my first piece of writing and I sincerely hope that it's decent and someone likes it.
> 
> The title is inspired by Maroon 5's song Love Somebody
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own One Direction and this is not a true story
> 
> Also, I like the idea of needy Liam and controlling, dirty talking Zayn so there's that...
> 
> I think I might add to this later, but I haven't exactly decided yet.

Liam and Niall exited the coffee shop, Niall with his plain, black coffee and Liam with his tea (he wasn’t that fond of coffee or the lingering breath it caused). Liam had been having a pretty shitty week at campus: he despised the other students, they despised him, and he and his parents had gotten an email over the weekend notifying them that he was failing his English class. His mom had called him immediately-

_“Mum, I’m sorry. I’m trying, I really am, I just can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong. I don’t mean to upset you, and I’m not trying to waste this opportunity, I promise.”_

_“I know you are, love. It’s okay. Your father and I know you’re working so hard for this, but we were talking and we think it would be best for you to apply for a tutor. The email your professor sent said you could still pass the class if you improved. It wouldn’t hurt to try, love.”_

_“Yeah, okay. I’ve got to go, mum. Love you.”_ -

And he did apply for a tutor, just like his mom had asked. His first session is today, and to say he is dreading it is an understatement. The students at his private school all come from rich families, and therefore, all have the same sense of entitlement. The guys are all arseholes, and the girls are extremely high maintenance. He had a thing with a girl at the beginning of the year, or so he thought, but apparently she couldn’t be with him because he didn’t take her out to eat at an expensive enough restaurant on the first date. Needless to say, he stopped seeing anyone here as potential friends, acquaintances, or significant others after about the first month. In fact, one of the only people he likes on campus is Niall, his roommate. He thanks the heavens above every day that he had been paired with Niall, and that Niall was just a normal lad who didn’t let his wealth rule his personality.

So now, as he’s making his way with Niall to their shared math class, he thinks his week might be getting a little better. He’s wrong. One minute Liam is listening to Niall animatedly recall a fantastic football play he had seen last night, and the next he’s gasping in a labored breath as he feels his scalding tea run down the front of his shirt. His eyes make their way upwards seeing the sleeve of tattoos on the stranger’s arm, beautiful eyes the color of honey, and black hair styled up on his head.

Liam knows of the boy standing in front of him, everyone does, but Liam doesn’t exactly know his name. The boy has a pretty impressive reputation. Niall has told Liam quite a few stories about him, the most recent one about the boy’s summer. He had went back to his home to spend time with his old friends. His parents had come home one night to find their house littered with drunk college students and half a sail boat smashed into the rocks along the beach a few meters from their house. And apparently, parents don’t like coming home to that, because he had spent the next morning sobering up and the afternoon listening to his parents lecture him about responsibility and growing up. They weren’t really concerned about the money for the repairs, it was a dip in the ocean to pay for those. But it hadn’t stopped them from pushing the boy back to his apartment a bit sooner than normal for the upcoming school year.

Liam notices, after the initial shock wears away, that the other boy is frowning and his eyebrows are pushed down like he’s trying to concentrate. Any hope of him acting like a normal person about this leaves Liam after he sees his face.

“You fucking ruined my shirt,” and it’s not a shout like Liam expected. It’s more of a statement filled with disappointment.

“I’m sorry, didn’t mean to,” Liam mumbles, and just as he’s starting to walk away after an extended period of silence on the boy’s part, he hears him speak.

“You’re not even going to offer to pay for a new one?”

Liam spins around. “Huh?”

“You’re not going to offer to buy me a new shirt?”

And Liam’s shocked because this guy has more money than he could spend. Maybe it was the tutoring thing later this afternoon, or maybe it was Liam’s thinning patience for the rude pricks at his school, but what he said next shocked even himself. He scoffed and said harshly, “I’m not buying you a bloody shirt. It’s not like you can’t pay for one yourself. Besides, you walked into me, mate. Buy your own fucking shirt.”

Out of his peripheral vision Liam sees Niall’s startled expression, too. And yeah, Liam needed to start finding more productive outlets for his stress. He’d never spoken to anyone like that, he was always polite with strangers. The boy even faltered, no one had ever talked to him like that based on the face he was making now. After regaining control of what he’s sure is a stunned expression on his face, the boy leans down into Liam’s space and sneers soft enough so only Liam can hear him, “Fine, don’t buy me a new shirt, but you’ll be paying for this somehow, I promise.”

Liam’s a little taken back. If he’s honest, it’s not every day he meets a gorgeous boy, spills tea down the front of him, and receives a threat to pay back something he’s not even sure he owes. The boy leans back and sees the confusion on Liam’s face, then saunters off into the direction that he and his curly-haired friend were originally headed. The boy with the curls is obviously a bit more decent, however, because he mutters a soft apology before jogging to reach Zayn’s side.

Niall watches them go as well and then turns his attention back to Liam, “Where did this sudden boldness come from, mate?”

“I don’t know, just sick of all these rich fuckers treating me like shit- like that. Tell the professor what happened so I can go change my shirt, please?” Liam groans.

“Yeah, sure. See you in class.”

Niall heads towards the building while Liam makes his way back to their shared dorm to grab a new shirt. He shucks the soiled one off and throws it to the ground to take care of later. He glances in the mirror quick before slipping on the fresh top and sees red splotches all over his chest and stomach from the burns. He knows they won't last long, they aren’t any different than the ones he gets after taking too-hot showers like he sometimes does in the winter to warm up. He finishes tugging on the shirt and walks to his math class to meet Niall.

~

Liam’s classes are just as long and boring as every other day, and he soon finds himself back in his room. He also finds the note Niall’s left: “Hey mate, going out with Louis for dinner and a few pints, don’t wait up! Xx”

Liam knows he won’t see Niall until tomorrow morning, and the thought disappoints him a bit because hoped to spend some time with the boy to cheer himself up after the week. No one is ever in a bad mood after spending time with Niall. Liam grabs a snack from the cupboard Niall and himself stocked with food, grabs his bag from where he had dropped it, and walks to the library. The email said to meet in the back conference room there. He walks up the steps and pushes through the doors, swipes his card upon entering and walks to the elevator. Liam pushes the button for the third floor containing the conference rooms and then walks to the back where the email said his tutor would be waiting. And okay, that’s a bit weird. The door is cracked open the slightest bit and the conference room has NO windows. Was that even normal? Liam’s not sure, he doesn’t spend much time in the library, and he certainly hasn’t ever gone past the first floor when he does. He clears his head and pushes through the door.

“Absolutely not. No fucking way.”

It’s the boy from earlier this morning, hunched over and doodling in a notebook. This can’t be happening. Liam knows he has bad luck, but seriously. His tutor just has to be the boy he now despises most and first talked to today, exchanging harsh words and threatening promises over a fucking shirt. Liam turns to walk out, he cannot, no, WILL NOT go through with this. He’ll simply ask his counselor to match him with a different tutor.

“Wait! Please, just wait a second, yeah?” Liam turns back slowly and lowers his glare to him. “I apologize for what happened earlier today. It was my fault for spilling your tea.” Then the next part comes out much quieter, “I just want you to know I don’t want to be a jerk like everyone else anymore. Just, can we start over?”

Liam is confused over the last part, but he thinks for a second, and then lets out a long sigh. “Yeah, yeah okay. I accept your apology. But I promise you, if you start acting like an arsehole again, I’m finding a different tutor.”

The boy’s lips move to form a small smile, “Okay. I’m Zayn by the way, Zayn Malik. I didn’t really properly introduce myself earlier.”

“I’m Liam,” Liam takes a seat on the corner next to Zayn.

“Liam,” Zayn repeats as if testing how it sounds coming from his own voice. “Okay. Do you have any homework that you're working on right now?”

“Just a small bit of a writing assignment.”

“Hmmmm,” Zayn hums as he thinks for a second. “Let’s do that today and we’ll find something else to practice with next time. What are you struggling with most in the class?”

“All of it,” Liam answers and feels his face flush immediately as he turns his head downward.

“Okay Liam, but like, what’s worst?” Liam feels his face warm up even more when Zayn says his name, and Liam doesn’t know why.

“No, like really Zayn. I’m terrible at all of it. I can’t understand the text and my mind seems to be thinking in a whole different language when I try to write.”

Zayn laughs at the last part. It fills the room and Liam loves the sound and the way Zayn’s face scrunches itself up, deciding to make Zayn laugh more when the opportunity presents itself. “You said you had a bit of a writing assignment left? Do you mind if I glance at what you’ve completed?”

Yes, Liam thinks, but his mouth disobeys, “No, here.” He digs it out of his backpack and hands it over with nervous, shaky hands. Liam watches as Zayn picks up the pen he was drawing with earlier and methodically examines the paper. The pen dips a few times, leaving heavy, black corrections on the page. And then he’s finished. Zayn recaps his pen and moves Liam’s paper to show him the destruction, and Liam is a bit surprised at how few marks there are.

“Okay, so…” Zayn trails off and spends the rest of their hour and half time slot explaining dangling modifiers and parallel structure. And Liam could listen to him forever is the thing. Because Zayn has such a beautiful voice and such beautiful lips that have taken Liam’s jumbled thoughts and made sense of them. Liam applies the changes to the original on his laptop and then reads through it, eyes wide because it actually makes sense. The essay effectively says what he’s been trying to express all along. They exit the room when the clock strikes 4:30 and walk together out the doors, splitting and saying goodbye as Liam goes left to his dorm and Zayn takes a right towards his apartment. Liam stays up a bit to finish some course work, eats his dinner, and then showers in the public washrooms before going to bed.

He awakes later to find Niall pulling back the covers and cuddling up to his side.

“Niall,” he groans, “What are you doing? It’s 2 AM, let me sleep.”

“M’lettin’ ya sleep,” Niall slurs, “just wanna cuddle Li Li.” It’s said with a pout on his lips and Liam can’t bear to kick the boy out.

“Okay, fine, goodnight.”

“Leeyum. Have to tell you something.” Liam rolls over with an exasperated sigh, but waits to hear what Niall has to say. “I like Louis.”

“I know you do, had dinner with him and everything,” Liam coos while carding his hands through the blonde’s hair.

“No. Like him a lot,” Niall says and Liam’s eyes take on a concerned look. “I like Louis a lot.”

“Did something happen, Ni? Something between you and Louis?”

“We kissed. I really want to kiss him again Liam, want him to like me, too,” Niall reveals in his drunken stupor.

“I’m sure he does Niall. But you’ve got to sleep. Did you drink any water?”

“No,” Niall practically whines out.

“Here. Drink this for me, yeah? Whole thing. That way you won’t hurt so bad in the morning.” Niall does so without a fight and cuddles back up to Liam’s chest to fall asleep, while Liam wraps his arms protectively across the lad’s back.

~

Liam doesn’t see Niall until the next night although he’s been worried about the boy the whole day. He receives a text sometime during his last class from Niall. It reads: “Hey Liam, wanna meet in our room and walk to the cafeteria together for dinner?”

Liam’s response is a quick yes saying he is on his way back now. He enters their room and finds Niall laying back on his bed with his eyes closed listening to music. Liam taps his foot to get his attention and then drops his school bag near his own bed.

"Ready to go?" Liam asks while watching Niall unplug his headphones and wrap them up.

"Yeah."

They leave the dorm building and set out across campus for the cafeteria.

"So," Niall starts, and then stops suddenly as if not knowing what to say.

"So," Liam repeats and glances toward Niall with an easy smile on his face.

The smile must calm Niall down a bit because he starts up again, "About what I said last night, could we keep that between us?"

"Of course, who the hell else would I tell?" Liam pauses before continuing. "Did you mean what you said though? And did that actually happen?" Liam tries to play it cool, not wanting to scare Niall back into his previous nervousness.

"Yes, and yes. But part of me is a bit afraid, he was drunk as well when it happened… I don’t know if he knew what he was doing or if he really meant it," Niall explains softly, blushing a bit as he does.

"Of course he knew what he was doing Niall. Just as much as you did when you kissed him back,” Liam tries to assure him.

"I don’t know,” Niall flushes and looks away, a soft hint that he’d rather not continue the conversation and get his hopes up.

So Liam slings his arms around the blonde’s shoulder and they walk like that the rest of the way. After scanning their student IDs, they grab food from the different areas of the cafeteria and take a seat together around a small, circular table towards one of the corners. A bit later another tray is being set down and they both look up to see Louis, smiling and taking a seat next to Niall.

"Hey Lou," Liam acknowledges before returning to his tray.

"Hi Louis," Niall says, and Liam would be lying if he said Niall didn’t look a bit terrified.

"Hey boys! How’s it going?"

Neither respond, Louis greets everyone like that, it isn’t something he actually expects a response to. Liam took a bit to warm up to Louis at first. He met him through Niall and soon realized that the boy was forward and sassy with everyone, not just Liam, and they both got along after that.

"Hey, Niall? I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my flat for a bit tonight. We could play some FIFA or something?" And although that was something Liam was invited to normally, Louis’ eyes beg Liam to forgive him for only asking the blond boy.

"Um, yeah sure Lou."

So after finishing off their trays and saying their short goodbyes, Louis and Niall walk off, leaving Liam alone to finish his food, or so Liam thinks. Not a second later, another tray is set down, and Liam finds himself looking up again, this time finding Zayn’s face with half a smile across his lips.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Uh no, not at all."

So Zayn sits down, and it’s awkward to say the least. Well, at first. Liam glances up and finds Zayn looking at him.

"Um, how were classes today?" Liam tries.

And at least Zayn is decent enough to answer his stupid and cliché conversation starter.

"They were good, Liam," Zayn hums with a smile. "And yours?"

"Good. If you don’t mind me asking, what classes do you have right now?" Liam questions cautiously.

"I don’t mind. I’ve got two English classes and three art classes this semester."

Their conversation flows steadily from there and both boys find themselves enjoying the company. Liam learns quite a bit about his tutor- the boy is an English major, art minor. He has three sisters, one older and two younger. Liam is even a bit surprised when they find themselves talking about Zayn’s party this summer.

"I felt really bad about it, I still do," Zayn says with a frown. "I don’t mean to disappoint them- my parents- I just, I guess growing up with all this money doesn’t allow you to learn the value of objects. Like, at the time, it didn’t matter that I made a huge mess. I only realized after that it wasn’t a good thing. And it hit hard, I promised myself I’d start appreciating things a bit more. That’s why I became a tutor in the first place, wanted to make up for all the shit I’ve put my friends and family through." Zayn finished his speech while looking up with a nervous smile on his lips, like he’s asking for Liam to tell him he’s doing the right thing.

So Liam smiles back and says, “Well good, now you can help me pass my class on the language I’ve been speaking since I could talk.”

Zayn barks out that laugh that Liam remembers from their first meeting, the one that makes him swim with happiness. Then he looks at Liam curiously, “But you’re different. Most of the kids here act exactly like I do, or did. But you… you already know how to be decent to everyone, not like me,” Zayn states and it sounds a bit like a question, like he’s waiting for an explanation.

“I, um… I guess I’m just a bit quiet. Don’t like talking to people I don’t know well.”

Zayn hums a response and they find other things to talk about while both finish their food.

~

Liam crawls in bed later that night, giving up on waiting for Niall, and falls asleep while remembering the conversation he and Zayn had over lunch.

Liam wakes again though when he hears Niall letting himself in. He keeps his eyes shut however, not wanting to loose anymore sleep than he already has the last couple of days. Niall walks over and gently runs his hands through Liam’s hair and whispers in his ear, “You were right Liam! I’ve got so much to tell you tomorrow morning on our walk to math! Goodnight!” Niall plants a fat kiss to Liam’s cheek and crawls into his own bed.

If Liam weren’t so tired he’d jump out of his bed and beat the hell out of Niall for leaving him with such vague information. _Right about what?_ But he is tired, so he settles for rolling back over and giving in to his tired brain.

~

Early the next morning Liam wakes to go for his run and comes back to find Niall still sleeping. He shakes his head and resists the urge to get Niall back for waking him up in the middle of the night TWICE already this week. He opts for a quick shower instead. When he returns, Niall’s just woken up and is still groggy. So Liam let’s him leave to shower as well, deciding it’s best to let the lad take his time.

It’s on their walk to class that Niall starts talking, “So I went to Louis’ last night…”

"I know, I was there when he asked you, Niall," Liam gave his best friend a teasing smile accompanied with an eye roll.

"And we didn’t play FIFA…"

"Shocking," Liam mumbles. He doesn’t push Niall though, knowing the boy will only shut down if pestered.

"We… we ended up talking. Louis apologized for kissing me last night," this time Niall has a deep frown on his features.  
And Liam isn’t expecting that. Had he imagined Niall’s overjoyed tone last night?  
"He told me, ‘I’m sorry I kissed you last night without knowing if you wanted it as well.’" Niall explains.

"So what happened then?" Liam asks quietly, glancing at Niall with a soft look.

"Jesus Liam, do I need to spell it out?!" Niall says while smacking him upside the head. “‘WITHOUT KNOWING IF YOU WANTED IT AS WELL. AS WELL, LIAM!’"

"Ouch! I heard you, Niall! That really hurt," Liam whines.

"Liam!" Niall lets out an exasperated sigh. "As well, that means I wanted it, but did you too? He told me he meant to kiss me but apologized for doing it without asking me first.”

Liam’s eyes bug out as he lets out a sound of realization, “Oh! Well, what happened next then?!”

"I kissed the fucker to shut him up, he shouldn’t be saying stupid shit like that." A wide grin spreads across his face and Liam adjusts his to match.

"I’m happy for you. So is it like official now, you’re together or something like that?"

"God I hope so," Niall sighs, effectively finishing their conversation as they sit down in their respective seats and wait for class to begin.

~

Liam walks back into the room of the library, and once again Zayn is there waiting.

"Hey Liam!"

"Hello Zayn. How’re classes?"

"Same as always, you?"

"Same."

"So, did you finish your writing assignment? Can I look?"

"Yeah, here you go."

Their time is spent much the same- Zayn correcting in black ink and explaining the fixes to Liam afterwards. The second part of Liam’s paper is much shorter though, so they find themselves having time left over. They talk until the clock says 4:30, and then Zayn walks Liam back to his dorm before heading to his own apartment.

Niall is there this time when he enters their room, he has his face shoved into his phone which is ringing with text messages quite frequently. Liam leaves to go get a sandwich for dinner from the cafe in the next building, and finds Niall waiting for him when he returns.

"Liam!" Niall exclaims animatedly in greeting.

"Niall!" Liam squeals back with fake enthusiasm. It’s not that he’s not excited to see him, he’s just a bit tired.

"I know, I know. I’ve been a terrible friend constantly talking about all of my adventures, but can you share with me your tutoring experiences before we both fall asleep?"

And Liam tries, eating as he does, but not even halfway through the story and after finishing his food he falls asleep, and Niall, bless him, doesn’t wake him back up to have him finish.

~

The next day passes quickly and Niall let’s him finish his story over dinner. Liam doesn't leave out his newly found friendship with Zayn either.

"So you like him then? Like you fancy him?"

"Um, I don’t know?"

"Well do you or don’t you? It sounds like you do."

"I, yes, I like him. But is it bad? He’s supposed to be my tutor for fuck’s sake, Niall! I can’t have a crush on him!"

"Oh c’mon Liam. He’s extremely attractive, a decent person- from what you’ve told me, not our personal experience from the other day- and he seems really smart. Just see what happens, yeah?"

Liam nods his head and goes back to finishing his food, reluctant to follow the advice Niall gave him.

~

It’s Friday, and Liam really, really wants to check out for the weekend. But he’s still got his session with Zayn. He walks into the room and takes a seat to patiently wait for him. The boy walks in a couple minutes later and takes his seat.

"Hey babes."

And Liam startles for a second before greeting Zayn back, not accustomed to being referred to with pet names, at least not by Zayn.

"Hi Zayn. How’re classes?"

"Good, you?"

"Same."

And Liam wants to smile at how familiar their routine has become in such a short amount of time.

Zayn starts Liam working on his reading assignment, Romeo and Juliet, but interrupts soon after, “Hey, Liam?”

"Hm?" His eyes not glancing up, this Shakespeare stuff is hard and it’s taking up a lot of his concentration.

"Can I draw you while you read?" Zayn asks, and it’s sheepish, as if Zayn’s horrified by the mere thought of Liam saying no.

Liam looks Zayn’s way and smiles so Zayn knows he can relax, “Yeah, sure.”

So that’s how they spend their time. And when the clock tells them it’s 4:30 they start packing their supplies up.

"Wait! Can’t I see it?" Liam questions, his curiousness getting the best of him.

"No, it’s not finished. How was your reading?"

"I don’t know. It’s really confusing," Liam gazes down to hide his embarrassment.

"Well it’s not due yet, yeah? Work on it some over the weekend and bring a list of questions with you so we know where to start next time."

"Okay."

Zayn walks Liam home and then heads back to his apartment, just like he had last time. Liam falls asleep later that night feeling oddly content.

~

The weekend was terrible. Liam tried to read his assignment, the intro to Romeo and Juliet. But he could not, for the life of him, understand any part of it. The individual words made sense, sure, but the way they were thrown together messed with Liam’s brain. It was like Shakespeare had taken a bunch of familiar words to Liam and messed them into a story with a lock. And Liam DID NOT have the key.

He arrives to meet Zayn in a terrible mood. And when Zayn looks up from his phone and realizes this, his face moves to show his concern.

"Hey Liam. You okay?" Zayn tries timidly.

"No. No, I’m not. I tried all weekend to understand this fucking book,” his voice growing more like a shout as he continues, “ALL BLOODY WEEKEND. My head hurts, and I’m exhausted, and if I try to decipher that shit one more time I’m going to rip somebody’s throat out."

Zayn, not wanting to become the described victim, grabs Liam’s hand and pulls him into the chair next to him. He comfortingly runs his hand across Liam’s shoulders a bit and then tugs at the book Liam had his hand locked around, trying to save it from Liam’s crushing grip. Surprisingly, Liam lets go of it and then slumps forward, allowing his head to thud against the table top. Zayn moves his hand back towards Liam, this time working it through the hairs at the back of Liam’s neck.

"Let’s go get you some tea, yeah? We can study at the coffee shop today. You need something to wake you up and calm you down a bit."

"Okay."

So both boys stand and Zayn leads them to the coffee shop, carrying the book so Liam won’t be tempted to destroy it again. Zayn lets Liam pick a table and then goes to buy them each some tea and a chocolate chip cookie from the bakery, saying hi to Harry when he sees him behind the counter. Then he takes the treats and goes back to Liam, who seems at least like he isn’t planning on hurting anyone anymore.

“Here babes,” Zayn hands Liam his snacks, “You okay?”

“Yeah. M’just really tired, and frustrated.”

“Well, let’s see if I can help, yeah? Do you have the list of questions I told you to write down as you went?”

“No,” Liam admits as he runs his hands over his face. “I understand the prologue, we talked about that in class, but the rest…” Liam trails off for a second. “I don’t even know what Sampson and Gregory are talking about for Christ’s sake,” Liam ends with a bit of a whiney tone to his voice, slumping his head to rest in his hand. He startles just a second later as Zayn breaks into a muffled version of his laugh. “Don’t laugh at me. I’m miserable and all you can do is rub it in even further?!” Liam says, exasperated.

“I’m not laughing at you, Li, not really. It’s just, the part you’re stuck on? They’re talking about…” Liam looks on intently as Zayn takes a deep breath before finishing his sentence, “… they’re talking about fucking the Montague’s maids,” Zayn voices blatantly.

Liam’s face turns bright red and he buries it in his hands, “Oh. Um, I didn’t get that from the reading.” He finally turns his face, now a slight pink color, back to Zayn and notices that Zayn has a fond smile on his face at Liam’s embarrassment.

“I noticed,” Zayn says with a chuckle. He then continues to read through the entire assigned portion, unlocking the story for Liam as he goes. By the time they finish, it’s 5, later than their usual meetings, and they pack up to leave. Zayn, once again, walks Liam to his dorm building. They say goodbye, but before Zayn leaves completely, Liam reaches for the sleeve of his jacket and turns him back around so he’s once again facing Liam.

“Hey, Zayn. Thank you, ya know, for helping me with that.”

“No problem, Liam. That’s what I’m here for,” and Liam almost melts with the soft smile Zayn is giving him.

There’s a bit of an awkward pause before Liam realizes he’s staring and still holding onto Zayn’s sleeve. He drops his hand, clears his throat, glances down towards his feet, and says, “Right. Well, have a good night Zayn. See you later.”

“Goodnight, Liam.”

Liam walks in and trudges up the stairs to his floor. He opens the door and finds a note on his bed. After setting his bag down, he picks up the messy scribbles and reads, “Hey, Li. Spending the night at Lou’s. See you in math tomorrow! Xx” Liam decides it’s best that he finishes some homework, so he does a math assignment, and then heads to bed earlier than normal.

~

The next day passes like any other: he attends his classes, meets Niall in the cafeteria for lunch, and then they walk back to their dorm to do some homework before going to bed. As they try to fall asleep, Niall enthusiastically talks about his night spent with Louis, and Liam is so tired by the time Niall finishes that he forgets to say goodnight to the lad.

~

By the time Liam has to go meet Zayn, he’s in a great mood. His science professor let them out 10 minutes earlier because of the classes’ great test scores, and his math teacher actually warned them about their quiz tomorrow rather than springing it on them like he normally does. Liam strides into the room taking his spot next to Zayn, flashes him a smile, and greets, “Hey, Zayn! How’re you today?”

“Hey, Li. M’ good, you?” Zayn responds.

“Me, too! Guess what?” Liam continues without Zayn's responce, proceeding to babble on about the good things that happened to him during the day. Upon finishing, Liam actually takes in his surroundings and briefly spots the unfinished drawing of himself that Zayn had been working on before. Liam had forgotten about it, and before he can fully appreciate it Zayn flips it over and guards it by slinging one of his arms over it.

“I’m glad you had a good day. Did the next section of reading go well, too?”

“I understood most of that as well,” Liam says with a proud smile. “But I did have a couple of questions. I wrote them down.”

They cover the list of questions, Zayn taking a brief moment to read the parts that confused Liam, and then explaining them. Liam finds himself in a Zayn-induced daze, mostly staring at Zayn’s lips as he talks, and only taking in a minimal amount of information. He falls further into oblivion as their time goes on.

“Liam, are you okay?” Zayn asks, breaking through Liam’s foggy thoughts.

“What? Oh, yeah, I’m good,” Liam assures. He takes a minute and notices his compromising position. He feels the slight blush on his cheeks, and realizes that he is squished into the far side of his chair leaning over into Zayn’s space. Then he notices Zayn. Zayn’s eyes are focused on Liam’s face, flickering from Liam’s eyes, down to his lips, and then back to his eyes continuously. Liam backs away quickly. He checks the clock and says, “It’s already 4:30. We should go.” He finishes packing his stuff into his bag and stands up, waiting for Zayn so they could leave together.

"Um, hey, Liam?" Liam glances over and waits for Zayn to continue. "I, uh, don't have any food at my flat, so I was gonna stop out to eat. Do you want to maybe come with me?" And Zayn looks so hopeful that Liam hates having to turn him down.

"Sorry, Zayn. I want to, but I can't. I can't afford to go out to eat this week," he explains without realizing what he's said.

"You can't afford it? What do you mean you can't afford it? You understand that you're attending an expensive private school right, how can you not afford a simple dinner?"

Liam looks down, wishing he had come up with a different excuse rather than the actual truth. "I, um, my family wasn't always rich..." Liam trails off, hoping Zayn will leave it at that.

"But you are now, so...?"

Liam sighs and says, "Zayn, I don't feel like talking about this right here or right now. But I'll see you next time, yeah?"

Liam starts opening the door to leave but Zayn puts his hand on the handle and stops Liam from opening it any farther. "Hey," he says softly, "then why don't you come out with me, let me buy you dinner, and then explain it to me while we eat?"

"Zayn," Liam groans, "I'm not gonna let you buy me dinner when I don't have anything to repay you with."

"C'mon Liam. I insist. And who knows, maybe you'll help me with my math class next semester or something like that to pay me back," Zayn teases with an infectious smile that Liam can't help but return.

"Okay. Yeah, okay."

~

They stop at nice Chinese place and not even halfway through their meal, Liam feels hopelessly enthralled at the way he and Zayn are getting on.

"Louis actually did that to Niall?" Zayn gets out in a fascinated tone interspersed with giggling.

"Yeah, he's quite the prankster. He loves to make people laugh, y'know?"

"How long have you known them? Niall and Louis?"

"Only since the beginning of the year. They've known each other forever, and once I met Niall after being roomed with him they were kind enough to take me in."

"They would've been stupid not to," Zayn says with a shy look and soft blush aimed downwards before glancing back up.

And as they finish their dinner, Liam notices how often Zayn takes the opportunity to give Liam compliments, and it makes him want to punch and kiss Zayn's stupid face at the same time for making Liam so flustered.

It's not until they're walking back to Liam's building, bumping shoulders every so often, that Zayn brings up the subject of their conversation in the private room of the library.

"My uncle was extremely successful, but he drifted away from my dad and his family after high school. We didn't here from him at all, and my sisters and I didn't even know we had an uncle until we got the letter in the mail. He passed away, and left everything to us. Like I said, he never contacted my dad or anything, so we never knew how successful he actually was. But we got the letter he wrote a couple of days before his passing, and it said that he left us with a huge inheritance. We thought it was a joke until my parents bank account balance jumped one day. After we got it, my parents switched me out of the public uni and into this one. That's why I'm not like everyone else, this is all so new and so weird to me. That's why I got a tutor for English instead of just failing the class and wasting the credits, even though we have more than enough money now, I don't want my parents to spend it on me. I don't feel like I earned it, y'know? So I let my parents give me an allowance each month, but I don't ask for extras or spend it crazily. I want to earn the things I get, not just get by off of other people. I guess I just try to use it as little as possible, and once I graduate college I plan to not use it at all."

Zayn listens quietly throughout Liam's story, but turns to look at him at the end of it and adding softly, "You're strange." And it's not an insult, he says it fondly and Liam feels his heart stutter in his chest. It's quiet the rest of the walk to Liam's building, but the silence is comfortable.

“Thanks, Zayn, for dinner. I had a nice time. I'll see you next time, yeah?”

"Yeah Liam. Goodnight."

"Night," he says, and then turns around and walks up to his floor.

He finds Niall and Louis in his room when he walks through the door, and both boys are flushed and have messy hair. Liam thinks they looked like they had been caught red handed and then starts to back towards the door once his brain catches up with the situation… “Oh, sorry, I can come back later.”

Louis jumps up and pulls Niall up with him, “No, it’s your room, too. We’re just gonna... head back to my place for the night. Sorry, Liam.” And Liam is surprised to see Louis this way. Louis has never apologized for his actions, even if they are sometimes inappropriate. Liam looks over the both of them again and sees that Niall’s shirt is caught in the waist of his jeans in some places and both of their jeans are buttoned, but unzipped. Liam’s face takes on full shade of red and he can’t get his mouth or his feet to work. While he’s still fumbling, Louis leads Niall out of the room and they both say quick goodbyes before the door is shut between them. Liam’s still half shocked, but he sits on his bed and takes out his phone to send an apologizing text to Niall. He decides to go to the gym for a while to clear his mind from school, everything actually. He returns later in the night, takes a shower, and lays down to go to bed.

Liam can’t fall asleep for the life of him, so he stops trying and just lets his mind start to wonder. Not surprisingly, it replays his dinner with Zayn and then the embarrassing encounter with Niall and Louis earlier, and then goes back to Zayn. He wonders what Zayn would look like if he was caught in the same situation as Liam had found Niall and Louis. Zayn doesn’t blush often, but Liam’s certain he would if he were turned on. Zayn would have light shades of pink high on his cheekbones. His mouth would be parted, eyelids drooping. Liam stops himself later after he finds he’s thinking about what Zayn would look like getting himself off. He flushes and lets out an annoyed groan as he realizes his dick has shown interest in his thoughts, hardening a bit in his pants. Refusing to acknowledge his problem, he tries to roll over and ignore it, hoping to find sleep. His mind, and his dick, don’t let him though. He can’t get the image of Zayn out of his head, and he keeps getting harder as he thinks of it.

Liam mutters a curse as he gives in and shoves his pants down just enough to pull his cock out. He lets out an airy moan as he starts to fist himself slowly at first, and then increasing speed. His mind stays on Zayn, and Liam comes faster than normal as a choked sound escapes his throat. He reaches over and grabs his discarded shirt to wipe himself off, and then shoves his head under his pillow after yanking his pants back up, completely and utterly ashamed at his actions. He falls asleep quickly though, hoping to forget his inappropriate actions all together.

~

On Friday, Liam walks into his and Zayn’s study room, finding Zayn already there, and closes the door behind himself. “Hey, Zayn,” he greets.

“Hey, Liam. What have we got today?”

“Another reading section. I had some trouble understanding it.” Liam admits shyly.

“We’ll have you read through it, and we’ll stop at the parts you don’t understand so I can explain them.”

So they sit, and it’s all going pretty well until the confusing part at the end of the assigned section.

“I don’t get this part. Can you explain it to me?”

“Not this time. Read it through slower, Liam. You know this.”

And Liam doesn’t mean to be so stubborn, but their reading has left him with a headache and he just wants to understand it and be done.

“No Zayn,” he whines, “I don’t get it, what does it mean?”

“Yes you do Liam, read it.”

And then Liam snaps (he blames it on stress and lack of sleep, okay?),”No. I don’t understand the fucking part, Zayn. Explain it to me, that’s why I’m here in the first place, your supposed to help me.”

Zayn grabs Liam’s jaw and brings them close so they’re only a couple inches apart, glaring at each other’s faces, “No, Liam. Read the goddamn book. You. Know. This,” he punctuates slowly.

Just as Liam’s opening his mouth to say no and tell Zayn off for being a shit tutor, Zayn rushes forward and crushes their mouths together. Liam goes completely still for a second, and then works back against Zayn's lips to show Zayn how angry he is with him, too. It’s rough, they’re both biting and pulling and battling for dominance, but Liam doesn’t think he wants it to end, ever.

As they continue their bruising kiss, Zayn reaches over to grab Liam’s arms and pulls at them, but Liam doesn’t know what Zayn is trying to get him to do. Zayn pulls away just enough to growl, “Liam, come here.”

They crush their lips together again and Liam goes to stand, but as soon he’s out of his chair Zayn yanks him hard into his lap. Zayn moves Liam effortlessly to bracket his hips, never breaking the kiss. Liam starts grinding down on Zayn instantly, and is rewarded with a grunt. Zayn’s hands move to the hem of Liam’s shirt and rips it over his head. They crash together again, and Liam feels hands gripping tightly at his hips to encourage him to keep moving back and forth in Zayn’s lap. Eventually, Liam feels Zayn’s right hand trail excruciatingly slow from where it roughly adjusted the angle of Liam’s jaw, down his stomach, closer to the button on his jeans, while the left one stays gripping at Liam’s hip.

Zayn pauses his hand right above Liam’s jeans to ask, “Liam? Are you okay with this?” And Liam’s thankful that even though they’re more than frustrated with each other, Zayn is giving him a chance to back down.

Liam groans and presses himself down again in an attempt to answer Zayn’s question without breaking their kiss.

“Liam, fuck. Give me an answer, Christ,” Zayn says darkly.

“Yes, Zayn, touch me,” Liam practically whines, and he swears he meant to sound as angry as Zayn when he responded.

He’s quickly rewarded, feeling Zayn’s hands unbutton his jeans. Liam lifts himself and Zayn yanks them down just far enough to free Liam’s cock. As soon as Liam’s sitting back on Zayn he feels Zayn's fist around him and whimpers, letting his head fall to Zayn’s shoulder. He strokes him fast right away, leaving Liam to pant into his neck while he tries to keep up with the pace Zayn is setting. Zayn’s other hand moves to grope Liam’s bum, earning him another moan.

“Fuck, Zayn,” Liam gets out between breaths. “I’m close.” He feels his stomach start to coil and thighs tremble as Zayn works him steadily. Even if he is angry at Zayn right now, he feels like the warning is needed.

“Yeah, Li? You gonna come for me babe?” Zayn slurs, and it sounds like he’s growling with how deep and rough his voice has gotten.

“Yes,” Liam whines, surprised at the dominance Zayn is displaying despite the fact that Liam is definitely bigger than him.

“Sit back. Wanna see your face when you come.”

Liam whimpers and does what he’s told, but keeps his eyes closed to avoid seeing Zayn. He feels Zayn’s fingers move from his arse to brush over his hole and he comes at the touch, letting out a whine as he does.

Zayn works him through it, and pushes Liam to stand in front of him once he recovers. But as soon as he's up, Liam pushes Zayn's shoulders back to the chair and follows, biting Zayn’s bottom lip and giving a slight tug before kneeling in between his legs. Liam’s hands go forward to undo the button, and pulls Zayn’s pants to pile around his ankles.

“Liam, you don’t have to do this if you’re not comfortable with it,” and again, Liam’s surprised that Zayn offers him and out.

Liam looks up at Zayn as he moves his head forward, hand taking hold of his dick. He attaches his mouth to Zayn’s hip and bites, hoping to leave a mark, until he reaches the base, and then sticks his tongue out to lick a stripe up it.

“Shit,” Zayn growls and lets his head fall back.

Liam’s tongue reaches the tip, and then he lets his mouth sink down around Zayn until he feels him hit the back of his throat. Liam pulls up to avoid gagging, takes a deep breath, and lowers his mouth back down. He works slowly until he’s adjusted to Zayn’s size, and finally is able to take him all down, nuzzling the hairs on his stomach. Zayn lets out another groan and weakly shifts his hips up.

“Oh fuck, Liam,” Zayn breathes and moves his hand to grab at the back of Liam’s neck. He holds Liam’s head in place and starts bucking his hips up, getting rougher as he goes.

Liam moves his hands to Zayn’s thighs and takes it, trying not to gag and fighting against Zayn’s grip to suck in more air when he needs it.

“Liam, I’m gonna come,” Zayn grits out and pulls at Liam’s neck to drag him off instead of shoving Liam down further like Liam was expecting.

Liam makes a noise of protest, feeling the need to prove himself to Zayn, and pushes himself down until his dick touches the back of his throat again, causing Zayn to come with a groan. Liam swallows as much as he can, and then pulls off of Zayn to sit back and let the boy catch his breath. Finally, Zayn opens his eyes, giving Liam a small smirk.

"Told you I'd find a way for you to pay me back," Zayn says, sounding happy and sated after his orgasm.

"For dinner?"

"No, for the shirt," Zayn smirks.

And _ouch_. "Uh, yeah. I've got to go Zayn. I'll see you later." Liam lets out and rushes to get dressed.

"Wait, babe. Go where? What's wrong?"

But Liam continues scrambling, he feels like he's going to cry or puke or both, and he doesn't want Zayn to see that. After hastily collecting his stuff, he rushes out of the library, heading for his dorm and leaving Zayn and all of his questions behind.

It's just, Liam should've known is all. Zayn isn't interested in him. He only wanted to get in his pants to get Liam back for ruining that fucking shirt they argued about so long ago. He feels humiliated and ashamed, and he just really, really hopes Niall isn't in their room when he gets back so he can collect his head without having to explain himself to anyone.

Liam stumbles into the room, grateful when he finds Niall's note saying he went to dinner with Louis, and drops himself on his bed. He starts to cry, and feels like an absolute baby for it, but he eventually falls asleep when his eyes grow tired.

~

Liam wakes up the next morning and is disappointed to find Niall already up, humming to himself as he looks around for a shirt to wear.

“Morning, ya lazy shit,” Niall chuckles.

“Morning,” Liam says softly and hopes Niall ignores the upset tone of his voice.

“Hey, Li what’s up? What happened?” Niall moves so he’s sitting on the edge of Liam’s bed and pulls Liam’s shoulder so he can look at his face.

“I don’t know if I want to talk about it just yet…” he trails off.

“Well I do, so start talking, Li. You weren’t even this upset when that snooty bird let you go because of the restaurant thing.”

Liam lets out a heavy sigh and buries his face in the pillow before starting. "Zayn and I might have, uh, done some stuff and it didn't exactly turn out well.”

“Oh... Like how? Did he run out after?” Niall wonders while running his hand through Liam's hair.

“No. But I don't think it meant the same to him as it did to me.”

“Well what made you think that? I need a bit more detail Li if you want me to help you out.”

“It was the kind of thing that started because we were both a bit frustrated, but we went out to dinner last time and I thought he liked me, too, even though it was rough and all that. But afterwards he said, 'Told you I'd find a way for you to repay me.' And he meant for the shirt. Remember what I said he whispered in my ear after I told him he could buy his own shirt? He promised I'd repay him somehow, and that's what it was to him I guess” Liam sniffles to keep himself from crying again and says the last part while shoving his head into the side of Niall’s legs. "I feel gross, Ni. Like he used me, like I was some sort of prostitute or something."

Niall is silent for a while and then breathes out, “Well, fuck.”

“Not helping, Nialler. If you don’t have anything to say, I’d rather just spend some time by myself to mope around.”

“Sorry, Li. But fuck him. He can’t honestly think he can use you like that and just get away with it, can he?”

“He didn’t seem very fazed by it.”

“That’s shit. Come on, I’m not just letting you sit here and think yourself in to a worse mood. You’re coming with me into town and we’re gonna have a fan-fucking-tastic day.”

“I thought you were going with Louis,” Liam groans, he doesn't feel like going out today, or doing anything at all really.

“I was, but he’ll understand. We’ll get take away and bring it to his room for dinner tonight, and then we’ll play video games and get drunk off our asses and forget all about that stupid prick,” Niall says, lips moving to form a huge grin at the last part.

“I don’t know, Ni. I don’t feel like going out and…”

“No protesting. If you’re not out of bed by the time I finish calling Louis, I will personally drag you into town in nothing about your underwear, Liam James Payne.”

Niall leaves the room, and Liam gets out of bed quickly, knowing Niall is serious enough to follow up on his threat, public indecency be damned.

~

When they get to Louis’ later, Niall carrying the beer cases and Liam carrying the pizza boxes, Louis immediately takes the pizza boxes from Liam, sets them on the counter, and gathers Liam in a bone crushing hug. They don’t say anything, though, and Liam’s grateful Louis has enough of a brain to know what Liam needs and doesn’t need right now.

They spend their night exactly how they planned it, and Liam and Niall stagger home at night, leaning heavily on each other.

The next day passes with Niall and Liam being lazy in their room, completing some homework while they sit, but mostly listening to music and lounging around. Niall tries to keep Liam busy so he doesn't start moping again.

~

It’s halfway through the day, and Liam feels his phone go off in his pocket as he’s walking to his next class after lunch with Niall and Louis. It’s Zayn: “Hey Liam! Forgot to rent the conference room at the library this week, want to just come to mine today instead?”

Liam replies, saying he doesn’t have any English homework today-a lie- and that he has a bunch of other classes to catch up on- the truth. He gets an “okay” and a frowny face back.

~

And that’s pretty much how the next few weeks go, except Zayn stops trying to reach him after a while, and Liam doesn't know whether to be sad or relieved about it. His grade in English hasn’t dropped back down, but it hasn’t exactly gone up a whole lot either. Liam’s okay with it though. He’s bent on staying away from Zayn, no matter what the consequences might be, and apparently Zayn is thinking the same way now.

~

He's been able to avoid Zayn for a while, and it's easier now that Zayn appears to be doing the same thing. In the lunchroom though, about three weeks later, his luck turns.

“What the fuck are you doing at our table, Zayn?” Liam hears an unknown voice ask loudly from across the cafeteria, followed by a bunch of other mumbles of agreements.

Liam looks up, behind Niall and Louis who are sat facing him, and sees a group of three boys circling around Zayn. They're big, not bigger than Liam, but definitely bigger than Zayn. Niall and Louis turn, too.

"There's like 12 other empty tables. I'm sure they all sit the same as this one, mate,” Zayn sneers without looking up from his textbook.

"You're right, so get the fuck away from ours,” He says and shoves Zayn’s book off the table.

"Thanks, but I'm pretty comfortable here," Zayn mutters while picking his book up off the floor and glaring at the boy.

The boys crowd even closer, if possible. Liam doesn’t get up, however, until he sees the leader of the group grab Zayn's shirt near the neck and pull him out of the chair. He pushes him and Zayn steps back a little before regaining his balance. After he rights himself, he surges forward and punches the boy in the face. The boy falls back just a bit, dabs his hand below his nose, and looks up furiously when he notices the blood smudged there. He winds up and punches Zayn back, hard enough that Zayn falls back on his arse. It’s seems like there’s a collective gasp from everyone in the cafeteria, and then another when Liam grabs the boy by the shirt collar with his left hand, and punches him with his right. The boy falls back completely disoriented, and the two boys who had been near him caught him and balanced him back on his feet.

“Who's this, your knight in shining armor, Zaynie, coming to the rescue?” The boy swings at Liam, but Liam’s quick enough to dodge it. Liam pulls his fist back to hit the boy again, but before he can move it forward somebody’s grabbing him. He feels one hand circle his arm and another circle his waste, and he’s just about to swing an elbow when he notices it’s the curly haired boy from when he and Zayn collided so long ago- Harry, he's learned since then.

“No, you can’t hit him again. It won’t end up well, Liam.”

And Liam’s head clears enough that he sees three professors walking at them. One of them grabs the boy Liam hit, one grabs Zayn, and the last comes up to Harry and says, “Thanks, but I’ll take him with me.” He goes to grab Liam’s arm, but Liam pulls away.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll go, but can I grab bag from the table first?” Liam sighs.

“Make it quick.”

So Liam grabs his bag and follows the professor to the Administrations Building. When they enter, he sees Zayn sitting on a chair and the black eye the fight left him with. “Hey, are you okay?”

He barely hears Zayn say yes with an annoyed tone, like a boy who's just had his mom defend him in a fight, before he’s lead into a separate room. He sits there for what feels like ever, before the same professor returns to the room.

“So, good news. No one’s pressing charges. But don’t let it happen again. If it does, regardless of whether or not the person you punch wants to bring you to court, the university will.”

“Okay, I understand. Thanks.”

They let him leave, Zayn's not in the other room anymore, and he walks back to his room. He finds both Niall and Louis waiting for him when he arrives.

“So, what happened?” Louis presses.

“Nothing. They just told me not to let it happen again or there’d be consequences next time.”

“Well that’s great! You should’ve seen yourself though, Liam. You swooped in on that guy and nearly lifted him off his feet before you hit him. It was insane! Have you ever thought to take up boxing?” Louis questions and then continues to babble.

Finally, Niall says something after studying Liam quietly. “Hey Lou, I think Liam’s a bit tired and overwhelmed. And it’s getting pretty late, you better head back to your room.”

Niall walks Louis to the door and gives him a quick kiss before he leaves, and then he comes back to where Liam is laying on his stomach on his bed, and puts a hand on his shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what? I’m fine, just tired.”

“Bullshit, Liam. I can practically hear you thinking.” He waits for a few minutes to give Liam a chance to respond, before saying, “Okay then, just know I’m here and Lou is, too. Goodnight.”

~

Liam wakes up on Saturday and stays there for nearly the whole day. In the afternoon, he gets a call from an unknown number.

“Um, hello?”

“Hey Liam, it’s Harry.”

“Oh, hi. Harry, how’d you get my number?”

“Not important. What's going on with you and Zayn? He's been moping around like a twat ever since you used him and ran.”

“Use him? I didn't fucking use him, it's the other way around, mate,” Liam counters with anger and ponders the idea of hanging up on Harry for being such an arsehole.

“Don’t lie to me, Liam. You let him buy you dinner, swapped orgasms in the library, and then ran. Tell me what the fuck that sounds like. ”

"Did he tell you what happened after what we did in the library? No? It meant something to me, but not to him. You don't know the whole story Harry, so don't fucking accuse me of anything!” He shouts and hangs up before the boy gets a chance to respond.

He stands up and stomps around the room, pulling at his hair as he paces. He hears Harry call him twice more but ignores it. He groans in frustration as he flops heavily onto his bed and pulls his blankets over his head. He’s pretty sure he stays like that for the rest of the weekend.

~

Much to Liam's surprise, after his phone call with Harry, Zayn starts calling and texting him asking if they can talk. The next week is hell though, so he continually ignores Zayn's attempt to talk to him. On Friday, Liam comes home from his classes and literally collapses into his bed. His head is throbbing, there’s snot running from his nose, and he feels like he can’t open his eyes more than a squint. He thinks he caught the flu from the girl that sits next to him in his history class. Eventually he falls asleep, happy that Niall is spending the weekend at Lou’s. It can’t be more than a half hour later that he wakes up startled to someone pounding on the door. He crawls out of bed to answer the door in nothing but his boxers and a t-shirt.

“Hel-“ is all he gets out in greeting before a furious looking Zayn bunches his hand in Liam’s shirt, kicks the door closed behind him, and pins him up against the wall.

Liam’s startled to say the least, and he waits in shock as Zayn examines him.

“You're sick, huh babe?” he finally says softly. He removes his hand from Liam’s shirt and grabs him by the shoulders to maneuver him back to his bed.

“Um…” he starts to say.

“No. Did you eat yet?”

“Um, no but…”

“Stop,” Zayn cuts him off again. He pulls the blankets up to Liam’s chest and continues, “You’re going to stay here in bed, and I’m going to go get us soup to eat from the cafeteria. While we eat, you’re going to tell me why the hell you’ve been avoiding me for weeks, and then you’re going to go to sleep again. Understood?”

Liam nods shyly in response, not knowing what to make of this controlling Zayn, and watches him take Liam’s keys and then close the door behind himself. Liam tries to keep his eyes open, but he gives in again and falls asleep. When he wakes up, it’s to Zayn gently running his fingers through Liam’s hair.

“Hey babes. Sit up so you can eat.”

Liam gives out a reluctant whine, but finds himself sitting up and taking the soup Zayn hands to him.

They sit for a while, shoulder to shoulder, eating before Zayn speaks again. “So, you wanna tell my why you’ve been dodging me, or do I have to guess?”

“I was mad and felt humiliated. Still am and still do.” Liam turns his head down and notices that Zayn isn’t looking at him or badgering him to continue, he’s just letting Liam go at his own pace. And Liam is thankful that Zayn is such an attentive yet unobtrusive listener because he knows he’s going to need time to think over what he wants to say.

After they’re both done eating, Liam finds the words to continue. “Do you remember our last meeting?” Liam waits for Zayn’s sound of affirmation before he continues. “Well we, did stuff, you know. And I’m mad at what you said after.”

Zayn looks shocked, “At what I said after? What the fuck are you talking about, Liam?”

Liam gets even more angry, it’s one thing to do what Zayn did to him, but it’s infinitely worse now that he’s denying it, “You used me Zayn! You tricked me into thinking you liked me so I would do that with you, and then it turns out you just wanted foreplay as payback for your fucking shirt! I’m not a prostitute, Zayn, and you made me feel like shit.” Liam’s shouting by the end, but he sounds ridiculous because his nose is plugged and his throat is raw. He looks down to where he’s wringing his hands together, and keeps his eyes there even when Zayn turns to look at him.

“Look at me, Liam.” When Liam doesn’t (he doesn’t want Zayn to see him nearly crying, okay) Zayn moves his hand to the side of Liam’s face and moves him so they’re looking at each other. “You think I meant that?” Liam’s silence answers for him. “Christ, Liam. I kissed you and did the other stuff because I like you. I didn’t mean what I said and I don't need anything for the shirt. It was a joke and I didn't mean to offend you, babes. I'm sorry.”

"You made it sound like-“

“Well I didn’t mean it like that, Liam. I like you, and I’m sorry you took it as that. Now forgive me so I can cuddle you until you fall asleep, ya donut.”

Liam chuckles at the teasing name, and then says, “Yeah?”

"Yes."

Zayn looks through Niall and Liam’s small collection of movies and sets Liam’s laptop up on the desk chair in front of the bed so they can watch it while they fall asleep. When Liam wakes up the next morning, it’s with Zayn’s arms wrapped firmly around his waist and a little less throbbing in his head.

Zayn spends the weekend watching movies with him and lazily doing some homework. On Sunday night, Niall walks in and stops in his tracks. “Um, hi?”

Liam and Zayn both look up at him from where they’re tangled together on the bed and return the greeting.

“So… is everything sorted now or…?”

“Yeah,” Liam says with a scratchy voice, still from the sore throat he has. “Everything is good, we talked.”

~

After a few weeks and resumed tutoring dates later (some can’t necessarily count as tutoring because they were spent snogging Zayn, but Liam keeps that secret) Liam is at Zayn’s flat, trying to figure out what happened at the end of the short story he was given to read for the week, and Zayn is out in the kitchen rummaging for snacks.

“Okay, so it’s nothing fancy, but I found some microwave popcorn, and… what the hell, Liam?” Zayn says when he walks into the room, letting out a laugh at the end of his sentence.

Liam is sat on his knees and elbows at the end of the bed, pillows shoved under his stomach, and chin resting in his hands while he's leaning forward and reading the story. “What?” Liam says without glancing up, “M’just trying to be comfortable while I read this stupid assignment.”

“Okay,” Zayn chuckles. He puts the popcorn halfway between the both of them and leans back against the headboard to continue reading for his own class.

He only turns a few pages before Liam grabs one of his arms and moves into Zayn’s lap. Liam rests his head into Zayn’s neck before releasing Zayn’s arm. Zayn doesn’t say anything, just goes back to reading with his arms wrapped around Liam and his book resting on Liam’s back.

"Zayyynnnn," Liam whines quietly.

"What love? I've still got to finish reading for my class."

"I do, too. But I need you to help me understand the ending."

"You can do it, Liam. I know you can," Zayn says, still keeping his eyes glued to his book.

Liam starts moving his hips gently over Zayn's, "Do you remember what happened last time we had this argument?"

"I do."

"And do you want that to happen again, babe?" Liam questions, rubbing Zayn with a bit more intent now that he can feel Zayn thickening too.

"Well with the way your moving now, I wouldn't mind repeating some of it," Zayn replies cheekily, marks his page before setting his book down, and then places his hands gently on Liam's hips while looking up at his face earnestly. "But maybe we'll do it a bit differently, yeah?" He moves forward to capture Liam's lips, "We'll take our time and I can show you how much I want you, how much you turn me on by doing stupid shit like reading with your arse in the air like you just were?" He murmurs with their lips still touching.

"Yeah, don't care how, just... just want you," Liam stutters between kisses, and rocks against Zayn harder yet.

Zayn rolls them over so he's on top and Liam wraps his legs around Zayn's hips. They continue kissing and Liam continues his attempt at rutting up against Zayn again, frustrated at the lack of pressure on his hardening cock in this position. He hears Zayn groan in approval and then watches as Zayn leans back to remove Liam's clothes, and then follows the process with himself.

Zayn climbs back on top of Liam and lets out a grunt when Liam fists them both in his hand. He lets Liam work them both for a while and listens to the sounds they're both making.

"Zayn," Liam whimpers, a small invitation for more.

"I'll take care of you, love. Gonna fuck you, okay?"

And if Zayn was a bit hesitant before, it all goes out the window at the positively filthy sound that comes out of Liam's mouth. "Yeah, Zayn. Please, yeah," he whimpers, moving the hand that's gripping their cocks even faster and letting out a moan at his own ministrations.

Zayn moves himself out of Liam's grasp to reach over and grab the lube from the nightstand. He sits back on his legs when he has it and slicks up his fingers to start working Liam open.

"Gonna start opening you up, love, yeah? Gonna get you ready for me," he tells Liam. He turns his head to the side to kiss Liam's knee as he brushes a slicked finger against his hole.

Liam lets out a breathy moan when Zayn starts pushing in. He feels Zayn move his finger around when it's fully inside him, and then Zayn drags it back out to start moving it in and out of Liam. He adds a second finger when he sees that Liam is comfortable with the first and starts scissoring them slightly as he works them back and forth.

"Yeah, Zayn. Feels so good," he keens.

When Zayn adds a third finger, Liam looses it. He starts babbling, "yeah" and "Zayn" circling on his tongue repeatedly.

"You ready, Liam? Ready to take my cock?"

Liam lets out a loud mewl as Zayn removes his fingers, partly in protest and partly in answer to Zayn's question. Zayn reaches back over Liam and into the nightstand for a condom that he quickly rolls on.

Zayn glances down at him and finds Liam staring hungrily back at him, but that stops when Zayn pushes in. Liam's eyes snap shut and he groans at the stretch.

Zayn stops when he's completely inside Liam. "It's been a while for you, huh? You're so tight, Liam. You feel so fucking good," Zayn praises and then leans down to mouth along Liam's neck.

Liam is panting and Zayn waits for him to adjust-this isn't the first time for either of them, just their first time with each other- but Liam starts shifting his hips right away against Zayn's still form.

"Fucking move, Zayn."

Zayn leans up to look at Liam with wide eyes, "You, um, you sure? We can wait until you're ready."

"I am ready. If you don't start moving right now, I'm going to turn you over and ride you myself. Move."

Zayn places his hands on Liam's hips before pulling back and pushing in, continuing at a slow, steady pace.

"Zayn, stop being gentle and fuck me," Liam whines. "I can take it, promi-"

But Liam's words get caught in his throat because Zayn moves to rest on his elbows and starts thrusting into Liam quicker. "This what you want, love, hmmm? Want me to fuck you like this?"

"Harder, Zayn. Faster, please," Liam whines again.

Zayn really starts moving then, pounding into Liam. And Liam is loud, is the thing. He's moaning and whining and mewling and chanting Zayn's name like a personal cheerleader.

"Zayn, fuck. So close Zayn, don't stop."

"Yeah, Liam?" Zayn gets out, "you gonna come like this? Just from me inside you, stretching you so good?"

"Yeah," Liam mewls.

Liam feels his stomach muscles tightening and clenches his fists in the blankets. "Zayn, Zayn, Zayn!" He shouts before coming between them.

Zayn goes to pull out but Liam locks his feet behind him, "No. Keep going, Zayn. Want you to come like this," he pants.

Zayn groans and pounds into Liam, chasing his orgasm. He keeps thrusting as he comes, but collapses onto Liam's chest when he's finished. Liam wraps his arms loosely across Zayn's shoulders as they try to catch their breath.

After a while Zayn whispers, "Let me up, babe. Gonna clean us up."

He returns from the bathroom with a cloth and wipes the drying come off of Liam before throwing it on the floor and tucking them both under the blankets.

They both are dozing off when Liam speaks up again, "Hey, Zayn?"

Zayn, nearly asleep, lets out a grunt.

"I really do need help understanding the ending of the story."


	2. I Think about You Every Single Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After writing the first part, I really wanted a domestic Ziam fic and decided to combine it with this. Zayn and Liam graduate college and eventually start their own little family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is from Maroon 5's song Love Somebody

“Get your arses over here you stupid fuckers!” Louis yells from where he’s standing by his family, one arm around Niall’s waist and the other around Harry’s shoulders.

 

Louis’ mom gives him a disapproving stare and then turns to look where Liam is standing, his hand linked with Zayn’s. They haven’t been able to find either of their families in the mess, so Liam nods and pulls Zayn with him to go take a group picture for Louis parents. After the polite conversation with Louis’ family, Zayn and Liam start to wander through the endless crowd at the graduation ceremony to find their own families. It’s only been a couple of minutes before they hear Karen’s shout from their left. They look towards her and see that it’s not just Liam’s family- Zayn’s is following close behind.

 

“Oh my goodness, Love, look at you! We found Zayn’s family before the ceremony and sat with them. I can’t believe it. Liam, you’ve graduated!” And honestly, Liam barely understands her because she practically sobbing.

 

“Hey mum,” he greets and wraps her in a hug. He looks over his shoulder and sees Zayn receiving the same onslaught from his own family. Soon his family leaves him to congratulate Zayn, and Zayn’s family does the same. By the time the hugs have ended and their mums for the most part have contained their emotions, Liam can tell Zayn is worn out from all of the people and he just wants to steal him away and bring him back to their quite flat that they just moved into. He knows they can’t just leave though, so instead, he grabs Zayn’s hand and gives it a small squeeze while saying, “Where are we going to lunch? Did you all decide?”

 

“Yes! I know this nice little restaurant downtown, does that sound okay?” Trisha looks around to gauge everyone’s approval.

 

So Zayn and Liam strip off their gowns and caps, and get in Zayn’s car to go meet their families at the restaurant.

 

“Hey babe,” Liam says from the driver’s seat and places a comforting hand on Zayn’s thigh. “You feeling okay? Still okay to go to lunch?”

 

“Yeah,” Zayn replies with a smile, “I’m good.”

 

“You don’t feel like going back home?” Liam moves his hand up higher on Zayn’s thigh and squeezes.

 

Zayn shoves his hand away with a laugh, “No you handsy bastard, now let’s leave before they think we’re having a quick shag in my car.”

 

Liam lets out his own laugh accompanied with his crinkly smile before putting the car in drive and heading to the restaurant.

 

They’re easily the biggest party there. They had to push a couple of tables together with the approval of the restaurant to make room for everyone, and despite the few annoyed looks from the other customers they’re pretty quiet for the energy buzzing around the table.

 

“So Liam, are you nervous to start your new job next week?” Trisha asks.

 

“Um, a bit. I guess, I’m excited though. It’ll be something new.”

 

“It will.” She confirms.

 

“Darling, you’re sure you both will be able to support yourselves in your flat?” Karen asks, concerned.

 

Zayn answers for him though, “Liam and I will be alright. He’s gonna have his engineering job and I’ll have my paid internship at the school.”

 

Trisha steps in again, “You know we’ll all be here to lend some help if you need, right Loves?”

 

They both nod in response. It had been a big decision for the both of them, but they really wanted to do this by themselves. They decided, although it took some time to convince Zayn, that after graduation they would live off their own earnings, not their parents. Liam isn’t worried either, he and Zayn both have good jobs in their desired fields lined up and they’re both well-paying. Liam’s more excited than anything.

 

After dinner, Liam drives them back to Zayn’s flat for some down time before they’re set to meet Harry, Louis, and Niall for “a night of celebration,” as Louis put it. And Liam isn’t completely sure how those three are as close as they are. After Liam and Zayn had gotten together, Louis and Niall decided they weren’t really good for each other outside the bedroom around the same time Louis and Harry decided they were good for each other, sickeningly so. And Niall, bless him, was happy for them. Liam was baffled at how much of a good person Niall was, that he was comfortable around all of them, even when Louis and Harry cuddled during movie nights or grinded on each other at the club. The friendship between the five was dynamic and beautifully dysfunctional.

 

Liam and Zayn stumble through the door to their flat later in the afternoon, and not a second after Liam’s closed it, Zayn’s shyly spinning Liam to face him and crowding him close to the door. When he’s as close as he can get, he lays his head on Liam’s chest. Liam’s arms are quick to wrap around him.

 

“Alright, babe?”

 

“Yeah,” Zayn sighs. “Just happy to be alone for a bit. People are exhausting, y'know?”

 

“Do you want me to leave you alone for a bit? Or if you want to, I won’t be offended if you hide away in your art room,” Liam says half serious and half teasing Zayn. He trails the tips of his fingers up and down Zayn’s back and feels Zayn’s lightly scratching through the short hairs at the back of his neck.

 

Zayn pulls back, an incredulous look on his face, “No you dolt, you’re not a people,” and finishes his sentence with his face pressing into Liam’s neck, lips mouthing softly. “What time are we set to meet the boys then?” He continues with his lips and places his hands low on Liam’s belly right above the waist of his pants.

 

“Not until nine, why? Did you have something… specific you were thinking of doing?” Liam’s hands move to grip Zayn’s bum and he gives it a strong squeeze that gets him a soft sigh on his neck.

 

“Well the way I see it, we have close to five hours, and we’re going to be too drunk off our arses to do anything tonight when we get home, so…” He clarifies his words by pressing his hips gently into Liam’s.

 

Liam hums and gives a quick suggestion, “Bedroom?”

 

“Sounds perfect, babes.” Zayn goes to turn around and lead Liam to the bedroom, but Liam has other ideas. He grabs Zayn tighter so he can’t get away, and then moves his hands down to wrap around his thighs and lift him up. Zayn continues to move his hips softly against Liam’s as he’s moved through the flat and towards their bedroom.

 

Liam kicks the door mostly closed behind him and lays Zayn down on the bed. He crawls up to chase Zayn’s lips and they kiss lazily for a while, both of them still moving together. Liam reaches down to pull Zayn’s shirt over his head, but he’s stopped after he gets it tugged up just enough to see the tops of Zayn’s hips.

 

“Not yet, Liam.” He rolls them over so he’s on top, straddling Liam and sitting right on the bulge in his jeans. He pulls Liam’s shirt over his head and then works at his belt and pants while kissing him again. When he gets them undone, he pulls them off and kisses his way down Liam’s body until he lands right above his boxers.

 

Liam looks down to where Zayn is gazing up with his chin digging into Liam’s stomach. “So I was thinking…” Zayn starts.

 

“Heaven forbid,” Liam makes a shocked face and loses his act in favor of laughing when he sees Zayn roll his eyes.

 

“Whatever, you twat. Be nice or I’ll stop thinking. And trust me Leeyum, you want me to keep thinking,” he gives an awkward wink and rubs the back of his hand over the still growing bulge in Liam’s boxers.

 

Liam lets out a soft groan, pinches his eyes shut, and tilts his head back. When he feels Zayn slide his boxers down and move to kneel on the floor, he sits up. Zayn uses one of his hands to grip around the base of Liam, and presses his other hand down to where his own dick is stirring in his dress pants. He licks a small stripe from base to tip and Liam’s eyes slam shut once again. He thinks of keeping them that way because he knows he won’t last long if he watches, he never does with Zayn. But his eyes pop open wide when Zayn swallows nearly all of him.

 

“Fucking… warn me Zayn, yeah?” He gasps and fights to keep his hips down, fisting his hands into the duvet and letting his head hang between his shoulders.

 

He’s always surprised at how good Zayn is at this. He works over Liam so well and half the time (way more than half the time if he’s honest) Liam’s embarrassed at how quickly he gets worked up with Zayn.

 

Zayn’s bobbing speeds up the slightest bit and he starts twisting the hand he’s working around Liam as well. Liam glances down and sees Zayn’s other hand pressing himself harder.

 

“Fuck, Zayn. You look so good like this, babe,” he grunts with a clenched jaw. He tries to sound arrogant and confident when he adds, “This getting you off too, Zayn? You like blowing me?” but it comes out as a whine, like he’s desperate to know that Zayn likes this too. Which, yes, he absolutely craves knowing that Zayn is affected by this as well.

 

Zayn gives a small hum of affirmation as he continues, causing Liam to shift upwards just the slightest. With a few more bobs and practiced strokes on Zayn’s part, Liam shoots down his throat and lets out an embarrassingly needy whine.

 

A second later he feels Zayn crowding into his lap and grabbing his hand to move it onto his dick. Zayn’s jeans are pushed down around his thighs, but he’s still trapped in his boxers as he shoves down on Liam’s hand to give himself more friction. Liam watches for a while, and thinks it’s a bit counterproductive for Zayn to try and give himself pleasure from Liam’s hand when Liam himself isn’t the one moving it. He takes pity on him after a while of seeing Zayn desperately work for his own orgasm, and moves his hand up so Zayn’s falls into the sheets below them both. He thinks about flipping them over until he hears Zayn’s whimper, “Please, Liam. Please.”

 

Instead, he snakes his hands into Zayn’s pants and pulls him out to start tugging him off. The response he gets- a loud, filthy moan- from Zayn is immediate. It doesn’t take long for him to come for how worked up he had been and how long he had been teasing himself. When he does, he slumps into Liam’s body with his head pressed into the crook of Liam’s neck. He lies them down and moves them up the bed before rolling Zayn off of him and grabbing a shirt to clean Zayn’s come off his stomach. He pulls the rest of the clothes off his nearly sleeping boyfriend and then pulls the covers over them. He sets the alarm on his phone so they don’t sleep through the party, and falls asleep, practically on top of Zayn.

 

~

 

The bar is packed when they get there, but Harry, Louis, and Niall are sitting at their normal table laughing their asses off over God knows what.

 

“Look who finally decided to crawl out of their sex dungeon and join the rest of us!”

 

“Fuck off, Lou. We’re only 10 minutes late,” Zayn laughs back while sitting down in the booth next to Niall and moving over so Liam can join him. “Besides, you two look like you already made your way to the bathroom for a quickie, ya randy bastards.”

 

Niall chokes on his drink before tilting his head back and cackling loudly. And if that wasn’t enough evidence to prove Zayn’s statement true, the bright red stain spreading across both Louis and Harry’s cheeks is. “It wasn’t a quickie… just a bit of foreplay,” Harry mumbles as if that makes it less of an indecency.

 

Zayn joins Niall in laughing and Liam shakes his head in disapproval but still has a small smile on his face.

 

When they’ve all had a few more beers and their food is placed in front of them, they change the subject to something slightly more appropriate for the “dinner table” at Harry’s insistence.

 

“Are you nervous, Niall?” Liam questions, and then remembers that they all had an unspoken rule about not talking to Niall while he’s eating because he always talks with his mouth full and ends up making a bit of a mess.

 

“Nervous for what? My internship?” He pauses to let Liam nod and then continues, this time with less food in his mouth, thank goodness, “Nah. I mean, I’ve been doing this stuff since I was old enough to talk. And if the music producing industry doesn’t work out, I’ve always got my degree in Spanish. Won’t be hard to find something to do with that,” he says with a shrug and takes another huge bite of his burger.

 

“What about you Payno? Zaynie? Not worried about the jobs you’re starting in a week?” Louis grins at them.

 

Liam sees Zayn still chewing his food so he takes the go-ahead to answer Louis first. “Um, a bit, I guess. I’ve already worked with the company on a couple projects for school though, so I’m not exactly too worried.”

 

“Me neither. You all know the head of the English department at the University, Ms. Teasdale. She’s really nice so I’m really not that concerned,” Zayn adds.

 

Niall whistles at him and gives him a smirk and Zayn can’t help but roll his eyes, “Not like that, you twat. M'not into girls, in case you haven’t noticed,” he motions between himself and Liam, “Besides, she has a kid, ya sick fuck.”

 

Niall just laughs a response, never straying from his easy-going nature no matter what conversation or teasing is thrown his way.

 

“Okay, but Lou, Harry, you’ve got to be quaking in your boots, yeah?”

 

“I am,” Harry sighs. “What if our restaurant doesn’t take off like we hope?” He asks rhetorically with a frown.

 

“Relax Hazza, with your cooking and my amazing marketing and book-keeping skills, we’ll have the best restaurant in London. Guaranteed.” Louis assures. And if Louis’ overconfidence wasn’t the weirdest part of his personality, his uncanny ability to always be right about things like this definitely is. “Don’t you worry boys, fast forward a couple of years and the five of us will have the world eating out of the palms of our hands.”

 

~

 

And okay, so Louis wasn’t completely right about the world eating out of their hands, but he was still eerily right about some things. Liam is leaning back on his car, waiting for Zayn’s university class to let out so he can drive them to their meeting. With how well everything has been going for them lately, he can’t help but think back to that evening with his boys. They had all gotten hammered, but he doesn’t think any of them forgot what Louis had said.

 

Finally he sees groups of college students starting to exit the door. Most of them just walk by and head on their way, but a few of the girls look his way with pointing fingers and hushed giggles with their friends. Wearing dress pants and a button down doesn’t exactly let him blend with the other students, most of them wearing shorts and baggy shirts as summer approaches. And he’s used to it, Zayn decided after a month of constant flirting from his students to set his favorite wedding photo of theirs as his desktop background and “accidentally” let it show on the projector while pulling up his notes. He also “accidentally” explained where the picture was taken and spent the majority of their class time answering questions about his husband. Amusingly, the girls that had spent the beginning of the year gushing over Zayn, had spent the time after teasing Zayn and going absolutely nuts over his attractive husband and their relationship. And it had recently gotten more intense; some of Zayn’s students heard about them receiving approval for the adoption they had spent years fighting for, and that it was to be finalized this today. If everything went as planned they would be taking their baby boy and little girl home with them tomorrow. So really, Liam’s surprised it’s only the gossipy talk he receives instead of a full-blown investigation as soon as the girls saw him.

 

It takes a few more minutes, but then Zayn is exiting the building and looking for Liam. Normally Zayn is dressed casually for his classes, black jeans and a t-shirt, but today he exchanged his comic t-shirts with a nice dress shirt from Liam’s closet. “Hey babe, sorry there were a few last minute questions about the assignment.”

 

“No problem, do you have everything? Are you ready to go then?” Liam questions. And okay, now that they’re set to close the paperwork he feels his pulse rising, the blood coursing through his veins quicker causes him to break into a small nervous sweat.

 

“Yep!” Zayn chirps while climbing in the car. “I’m so excited, Li! Like, can you believe this is finally happening? We’re going to have little ones running around the house from now on and we’re going to come home every day to our kids and… Li, are you okay?” He stops his speech to ask. And it’s no doubt he sounds concerned, Liam’s gripping the steering wheel and gaping at Zayn with wide eyes.

 

“Yeah, just peachy,” He chokes out.

 

“Liam, you still want this, yeah? Not backing out now are you, babe?”

 

“Of course I do! But like, what if they don’t like me?” He asks earnestly. “What if I forget how to change diapers or cut food small enough so they don’t choke or they grow up to hate me? Like, I’m a complete geek Zayn and not a lot of my classmates liked me when I was young because I liked batman too much and…” he trails off once he realizes Zayn is _laughing_ at his anxiety. “Zayn,” he whimpers, still with his wide eyes and tensed muscles.

 

“Love, relax. You’re too careful and thoughtful for that to happen. And I’m just as dorky as you, you goof. Remember when we watched Darcy for Lou and Haz?” Liam nods and slowly relaxes his grip on the wheel. “She adored you. Couldn’t even leave her sight without her throwing a fit. Hell, Liam, she wouldn’t even let me change her, she insisted on Uncle Liam. Our little ones will be the exact same, I know it, babe. Just you wait, too caring for a little kid not to love you.”

 

Liam relaxes fully now, tries to let Zayn’s reassuring words wash over him and squash his inner worry. He’s met plenty of children before, and their children, if anything, should love him even more right? That’s how it’s supposed to work in theory at least.

 

His thoughts are interrupted when Zayn’s hand tucks itself gently under his chin and moves them closer for a quick kiss. It’s soft and full of reassurance, effectively bringing Liam’s focus back to the car and the appointment they’re supposed to be heading too. Zayn is still close, his lips brushing Liam’s forehead this time as he murmurs, “C’mon babe, just some boring paperwork before we get to spend a few hours with them. Then we’ll go home to relax and I’ll cook for you and in the morning, after we’ve eaten breakfast, we’ll pack into the car and bring our family home, yeah? Just the four of us for the weekend, I’ll be right next to you the whole time and everything is going to go perfectly.”

 

“Yeah, okay,” Liam whispers before Zayn’s leaning back into his seat and Liam’s driving the car out of the lot.

 

The drive, as it turns out, is exactly the distraction he needs to calm himself down. Zayn picked the station and they spent the time belting out the lyrics they knew and completely stumbling through songs they had never heard. Once they began singing in the car, nothing could stop them until they reached their destination. If they didn’t know the lyrics, they shouted along with ridiculous lines that would never make their way into a song and yelled out with the back-up vocals and riffs. Liam is pretty sure Zayn is whole-heartedly rapping about the Hulk, but Liam can’t be sure over the sound of his high-pitched wail meant to be the climax of the song as they pull into a parking space. They end the song with Zayn doing an impression of a mic drop and Liam stringing out a falsetto riff, and then Liam cuts the car off.

 

Their antics leave them in a fit of laughing as they climb from the car, and Zayn’s still trying to stifle a giggle while he walks through the door Liam’s holding open. The lady they’ve been working with through the whole process, Amy, is beaming at them as they approach her. She took a liking to them right away and always calmed their worries when it appeared they were going to be denied by telling them how good they were together and how perfect they will be as parents. Liam remembers the one time he was so sure they were going to be told they couldn’t adopt, that they were too young or some other wild excuse. Zayn had been the one on the phone with Amy, and when she told him about the possible denial he had broken down sobbing. Liam was startled as he watched him from the kitchen counter, rushing over to take the phone Zayn was holding out to him while simultaneously wrapping Zayn tightly to him with his free arm. Amy had sounded crushed, maybe even crying herself as she relayed the same news to Liam. Today was the complete opposite though, she was beaming at them as she led them into her office to finish the last few collections of paperwork, which included the children’s names to be printed on birth certificates and the like.

 

Zayn and Liam were crushed when they found out that neither child had a name. The siblings were given up at the same time, right after the birth of the boy. The girl had already been two at the time, but apparently the parents hadn’t even cared enough to name their kids, just dropped them off and ran as soon as they could. Liam felt his heart tighten when they met the two nameless children, and beside him Zayn tensed while holding the baby boy.

 

They had debated endlessly over which names fit their kids’ personalities, and Liam watches as Zayn scribbled Soraya and Isam in the blanks. Their kids were part Pakistani like Zayn, and Liam had been nothing but enthusiastic when Zayn shyly mumbled a few names that Liam wasn’t familiar with. They both took a liking to them when they fell off of Zayn’s tongue and the next time they had a “playdate” with their children the names ran through Liam’s mind constantly until he was absolutely positive it encompassed the kids’ complexities.

 

They finish the work in Amy’s office, and she practically skips as she leads them into the room where their kids had been taken to wait for them. Soraya and Isam’s caretaker leaves with Amy quietly so the new family has some privacy.

 

When they stumble through the door, Zayn promptly sees little Isam crawling towards the commotion, and Liam’s not expecting it when Zayn plops down with his legs and arms spread open for Isam to crawl into. Liam’s body, in fact, is still moving forward causing him to nearly trip over the top of Zayn and Isam. He balances himself a second later and swoops over to where Soraya is sitting making grabby hands at anyone who will pay attention her. The sudden lift causes her to giggle, and she doesn’t stop when Liam brings her down from above his head and tucks her in his arms, swaying back and forth gently. She reaches one of her tiny hands up to smack into his beard; he had realized early on that she liked the feel of it against her small fingers, and resolved to keeping the trimmed facial hair as long as she took to scratching through it. After cooing hello to her and hearing Zayn giving Isam a similar greeting, he settles back against one of the walls in the room and spreads his legs like Zayn did to give the kids room to crawl close to him when they so please.

 

As soon as he’s released her from his tickling onslaught to say hello, he lets her run to retrieve her favorite teddy and a book. She toddles back to him so quickly that without Liam there to catch her in a tight embrace she would have tripped over his legs and toppled. From their hug, he picks her legs up and tilts her into a cradle and then upside down to hear her ringing laugh again before setting her between his legs so her back is cuddled to his chest. She sets her book in her lap so she can clutch her bear with both of her hands, and Liam picks the book up to see which one she’s brought today- it’s the thick one full of classic Disney stories. He looks up and sees Zayn sprawl out next to them, his right ankle crossing over Liam’s left.

 

“Soraya, don’t you think we should let Baba read the story today? I think he was a little sad he couldn’t read The Little Mermaid to you last time,” Liam suggests.

 

“Yeah, Baba! Please,” she slurs clumsily.

 

“Okay, Love,” Zayn starts. Liam takes Isam from Zayn and watches as he temporarily sets the book down to pull Soraya into his lap. “Which story are you wanting today?” He asks while resting his chin on the top of her head and flipping through the stories to find one that catches her interest.

 

“Beaut’ ‘n’ Best!” she sounds out enthusiastically, completely butchering the title _The Beauty and the Beast_ and causing Zayn to chuckle at her eagerness.

 

“Okay, princess. Are you ready?” And with her nodded response he begins to read, assigning all of the characters his best impression of the voices in the movie he used to watch with his sisters.

 

As Zayn reads the last sentence, Liam glances down to see Isam still sleeping like he was after the first two pages and then looks over to Soraya whose eye lids are sinking heavily as Zayn runs a hand through her hair. Soraya twists and buries herself into Zayn until she finds a comfortable spot before continuing to drift asleep, leaving Zayn and Liam to murmur softly to each other until their time comes to an end, neither of them having the heart to wake their children when they look so peaceful even if it means they forgo some of the time they’re allotted with them. About an hour later, Amy comes back with the kids caretaker, who gives in and lets Zayn and Liam carry their kids back to the home for their last night there. It breaks Liam’s heart knowing Soraya and Isam will wake and think Zayn and Liam just left them there, but he thinks it’s better than the alternative. When they left last time, and a few times before that, they had to watch the caretaker pull Soraya’s clinging grip off of whichever one of them had been holding her when it was time to go. And that, that broke Liam even more, seeing their little girl wailing and tears falling down her angry-red face. No matter how many times Liam witnessed it, Zayn had to drive home and spend hours calming and soothing Liam’s torn insides.

 

They set both children down in their cribs and take turns placing goodnight kisses on each of their foreheads before leaving silently and closing the door behind them. Normally the both of them are quiet and broody after the visits because they can’t take the children with them, but tonight there’s a buzzing energy between the two of them on the ride home. They’ll be taking _their_ children home with them tomorrow morning, and knowing that after that they’re keeping their kids safe with them at home placates their sour moods tonight. They grab takeaway on their way home despite Zayn’s promise to cook for them- _tomorrow, babe, like a celebration for our family, okay?_ \- and spend the rest of the evening watching the telly in baggy clothes, whispering about their eagerness for tomorrow rather than bothering to check what they turned on.

 

Liam’s surprised to wake in the morning with the bedside next to him completely vacant, and rolls over to make sure he didn’t sleep in. He rushes downstairs when he reads that it’s eight in the morning and his jaw nearly drops to the floor when he sees a boxer-clad Zayn in the kitchen with a full pot of coffee, eggs frying in a pan, and toast already laid out on two plates. He clears his throat in confusion and Zayn spins around quickly to beam at Liam before turning back to the stove.

 

“Morning, Leeyum! How’d you sleep? Breakfast is almost ready,” he announces off-handedly, failing to register Liam’s concern.

 

“Morning. I, um, slept just fine, yourself? Are you okay?” He questions with more astonishment leaking into his voice than he intended- Zayn is _never_ the first one up.

 

Zayn spins to face him again, “I’m fine,” adding an eye roll for emphasis, “I just was too excited to sleep, like I had proper insomnia last night,” he ends with a shrug.

 

Liam nods slowly to show that he understands, and then takes the plates Zayn offers him to sit at the table while Zayn pours their coffee. Breakfast is mostly silent from their anticipation for the day. They get ready in record time and Liam takes to strolling through the house, triple checking that the gates are secured at the steps to make sure the kids can’t accidentally tumble down, the cupboards have locks on them to keep them from getting into anything remotely dangerous, and enlisting Zayn to listen while he makes sure the baby monitors work from each child’s room. About 15 minutes before they’re set to leave, Zayn must’ve decided he had enough of Liam’s pacing, because suddenly Liam is being forced down to the couch on his back and Zayn is dropping himself down over Liam’s hips. If this were any other day, Liam thinks absentmindedly, he would be concerned about getting hard from Zayn’s choice for his perch. But as it is, he’s so anxious about having two small, fragile human beings occupy their living space from today on that he only spares Zayn’s position a passing thought before returning to his nagging worries of making sure everything is perfect for their children.

 

“Li, stop. You’re driving me up a wall because I can hear you thinking so loud. Whatever you’re worried about isn’t going to happen, okay? We’re doing this together, and Isam and Soraya already have an abundance of love for you, just like I do. Stop nesting before I tie your hands behind your back.”

 

Liam likes to think he’d make a smart remark about Zayn’s kinkiness, but he’s stuck on a previous part of Zayn’s speech, “Nesting? I’m not a bird,” he grumbles due to his slight embarrassment for how worried he is.

 

“I know you’re not!” Zayn laughs out, and the mood lightens considerably from there, “It’s like a pregnant thing…”

 

“Oi! I’m not pregnant either, you…” Liam goes to finish his insult but is promptly stopped when Zayn slaps his hand over his mouth.

 

“I know. Just listen. Haz told me Lou went through this too before they picked up Darcy. It’s just like you’re being a mother hen; you’re going nuts with the instinct of preparing our house for our kids.”

 

Liam looks down to his chest when Zayn removes his hand and tries to will away the blush he feels creeping onto his cheeks. He tries to apologize, but he’s stopped when Zayn cradles the side of his face to see his eyes. “I get it, okay love? You’re nervous and anxious but it’s all going to be just fine. We can do this.”

 

Zayn ends his speech by placing soft pecks all over Liam’s face before reaching his lips and placing a few innocent kisses to distract him further. When Zayn’s pulled back, Liam is a little dizzy with all the love Zayn’s showing him and he feels the blush returning to his cheeks. Zayn smiles down at him before reaching into Liam’s pocket to check the time on his phone. “Alright babe, let’s go get our kids,” he grins. He steps onto the floor and off of Liam, but grabs his hand to maintain contact. Liam’s always insisted Zayn’s had super powers, they’re just subtle, like knowing exactly what to say to calm Liam or that Liam needs Zayn’s touch when he’s this tense. Zayn ends up dragging him to the car and pushing him down into the passenger seat, deciding it’s better that Liam doesn’t drive in this state. When they pull into the space in the lot and Zayn takes the keys out, Liam sees Zayn’s eyebrows shoot up and hands reach to take Liam’s shaking ones into his own.

 

“Li, you’re okay. C’mon babe. Everything is going to go perfect. Hey, look at me.”

 

Liam moves his eyes from where Zayn is grasping his hands, and lets them trail up Zayn’s arms and neck until they settle on his face. He wants to melt with Zayn’s genuine concern and a reassuring look. He shakes his head for a second and then removes his hands from Zayn’s to give them the same treatment with the hopes of stopping his trembling. When he’s contained most of his emotions, he looks back to Zayn before giving him a nod to show he’s ready.

 

They climb out of the car but before they can even make it to the door they see Soraya’s hands smudge against the glass trying to give enough force to let herself out and run to meet them. The caretaker has Isam buckled into the seat they left last night for the ride home, and when the lady pushes the door open Liam thinks for a short moment that Soraya is going to fall forward but she quickly matches her feet to her forward motion and moves as fast as she can towards Zayn who’s trotted toward her with his arms spread wide to catch her and heave her up for a squeezing hug. Liam watches her bury her face in his neck- knows that exact feeling if he’s being honest- and ruffles her hair quickly when he passes them to take Isam from the lady. He listens to her quick chat about calling if they need anything and hears her wish them well before she waves to Soraya and goes to head back inside the building. Liam turns with the carrier on his arm and has to stop suddenly because Zayn had snuck up behind him to listen to what the lady had to say. He sees Soraya peek his way without moving her head from Zayn’s neck and she gives him a big smile.

 

“Hey princess! Are you ready to go home?” He bubbles as he sneaks out a finger to tickle her side gently.

 

“Yeah, Daddy!” She shouts into Zayn’s neck, and Liam watches Zayn startle from the volume.

 

“You think we can beat Dad and Isam to the car, princess?” Zayn whispers and shoots Liam an elated look. She nods and Liam watches Zayn take of at a slow jog with Soraya squealing the whole way to the car.

 

They had planned for their first day with their kids to be quiet, so when they make it back to their house Zayn carries Soraya around to give her a tour and Liam follows quietly with Isam still in his carrier. Liam glances down while Zayn is explaining to Soraya that she’ll get to pick out the colors for her room and sees Isam watching him with big brown eyes. He smiles down at the baby and pulls a funny face just to see his mostly toothless smile and hear his contagious laugh. The tour ends quickly and Liam leaves to go put Isam down for his nap, hoping Zayn will get the hint and remember that Soraya is young enough to still need one. He does, too, but he hears Soraya insist on going potty before she naps. He’s just laying Isam down after changing him when he hears Soraya shriek from an area of the house that is definitely not a bathroom, “Baba! Baba, I’m lost!” She sounds like she’s on the verge of tears and he’s about to go find her when he hears Zayn run up the stairs and blur past Isam’s bedroom door. He chuckles under his breath and thinks that the tour must not have been all that great if Soraya couldn’t find the bathroom right across from her bedroom door. When both of their kids are laying down and Liam and Zayn have said goodnight to each of them, Liam suggests they go downstairs to watch a movie while Soraya and Isam nap. And by watch a movie Liam definitely means gush about how happy they both are to finally have their family under one roof.

 

Dinner goes by smoothly- the meal Zayn had promised him ended up being spaghetti and it was a huge hit with Soraya, if the sauce smeared over her face is any indication. Liam had given Isam his bottle while Zayn cooked, and then placed him in his highchair so they could keep an eye on him while they ate. They had promised Soraya a movie before bed, so they end up curling together on the couch, Zayn holding Isam and Soraya wedging herself between her parents. She picked Cinderella, but she only makes it through the first few minutes before she’s smushed into Liam’s side and snoring softly.

 

The next morning Zayn and Liam wake up around the same time. They had decided that the kids would meet their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins today, even Uncle Louis, Uncle Harry, Darcy, and Uncle Niall. Liam gets up to shower first; under normal circumstances they’d probably shower together, but they decided it’d be best if one of them was still out in case the kids needed something or woke up. When Liam steps out of the shower and cracks the door open to let some of the heat out, he’s met with one of the most beautiful sights he’s ever seen. Zayn is on their bed on his back with Isam laying on his stomach, and Soraya is sitting near his head and trading funny faces with him, both of them giggling in between. Liam turns quickly to grab his phone and nearly dies when he turns to see Soraya leaning down, giving her baba a kiss. He takes the picture just before she pulls away and they start giggling again, and sends it to his parents and Zayn’s parents in a group message. He finishes getting ready and pulls on some clothes, his phone going off the whole time with messages from their parents gushing about how cute their grandkids are and how excited they are to meet them.

 

Liam emerges from the bathroom and does a goofy run at Soraya. She lets on a full out laugh, Zayn doing the same although Liam’s not sure if it’s at him or from the contagiousness of her laugh. He scoops her up and spins her around once before hugging her close, pecking her forehead with a kiss, and saying, “Good morning, princess.” He sets her down on the floor and then takes Isam from Zayn so he can go take his shower.

 

“Morning, Daddy! Are we gonna have breakfast now?” The first sentence is good, but the second one comes out so garbled that Liam has to decipher it quickly in his head.

 

“No, Love. I’m going to help you get ready, then we’ll get Isam ready, and then we’re going to go meet your grandparents for breakfast.” By this time the three of them have made it to her bedroom, but she stops and looks at him at the mention of grandparents. Her eyes are as wide as saucers and Liam wants to fix whatever he said to scare her. He sits on the carpet, lays Isam on the floor beside him, and then opens his arms in an invitation for Soraya. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” He asks while brushing some stray hairs back from her face.

 

She still looks scared and Liam wonders why such a sweet little girl would worry about meeting her new family, “They’re going to love you sweetheart, you know that right? They’re going to absolutely spoil you, and as soon as you’re comfortable with them they’re going to give you nonstop cuddles and hugs and kisses and tickles…” he brushes his fingers over her sides quickly at the last part, making her giggle and squirm in his embrace. That seems to have calmed her so they continue getting ready for their day. Liam can tell she’s still nervous, but that’s better than full-out terrified like she was before.

 

They make it to the restaurant a little late and Liam makes a mental note to give themselves extra time just for physically getting the kids (and Zayn) into the car- who knew that getting the three into the vehicle would be a challenge in and of itself? Zayn leads the way to their table and Liam follows, taking special care to not bump anything with the baby carrier he’s got on his arm. Soraya is holding Zayn’s hand when they walk in and as Zayn leans in to give Karen a hug she moves a little to hide shyly behind his leg. Liam stays behind them, choosing to let Zayn lead the way through the welcomes as well. When Karen and Zayn pull apart, Soraya still holding his hand, Karen crouches down to smile at Soraya. Liam watches curiously; he hears his mom introduce herself to his daughter and hears Soraya murmur her name back. Liam thinks he genuinely feels his heart do flips in his chest when Karen opens her arms for a hug and his brave little girl steps forward to accept it. When Zayn and Soraya move on to greet Liam’s dad, Liam gives his mom a hug and lets her coo at Isam while he watches her with wide eyes, and then breaks out into one of his chubby baby smiles. The rest of the introductions follow much the same and soon Liam has his family sat at their places at the table, he’s strapping Isam into a high chair and Zayn is leaning over with his arm around Soraya and helping her read the menu that she’s haphazardly holding in her lap. Liam honestly doesn’t think he’s ever had such a strong pressure in his chest, and knows it’s from his new little family finally fitting with the one he already has.

 

~

 

“No, Zayn, I didn’t burn the bread. I’ve done this a thousand times,” Liam mumbles, a bit exasperated at the accusation. He takes it out of the oven and throws an annoyed glance over his shoulder for Zayn to catch.

 

Zayn sets his measuring cup down on the counter top and goes to circle Liam’s waist, “Love, I didn’t mean it like that, okay? I’m sorry.” He moves to give a quick apology nip to Liam’s neck and then retreats quickly when Liam swats at him with a towel. He finishes measuring out the vegetables and dumps them into the soup on the stove top, handing the wooden spoon to Liam so he gets the hint and stirs it for a bit. Zayn is just putting the recipe book away when he hears one of their kids walking toward the kitchen.

 

It’s Isam. He pulls out one of the stools at the counter top and sits down. “Hey, Sam,” the nickname had stuck when a young Darcy refused to pronounce the “I” at the beginning of his name, “Did you finish most of your homework? Lou and Harry and Darcy will be here for dinner soon.”

 

“Yeah it’s done. What about Uncle Niall?”

 

Liam speaks up behind him, “The Horans had to go to one of Niall’s album release parties for one of his clients.”

 

Isam looks slightly disappointed, but he drops the topic and folds his arms on the table to rest his chin on. Zayn goes about checking that the dessert is still where he left it and fully intact- especially after the incident with Isam’s 16th birthday cake- and then turns to look back at their son. His brows are furrowed and he seems to be very interested at a point on the table. “Sam, what’s wrong? You look upset,” he says, running his fingers through his son’s hair.

 

Liam turns away from stirring the soup to face Isam, and they both watch as their son opens his mouth to talk and then closes it quickly. Zayn and Liam share a glance and decide to wait for Isam to gather his thoughts. “Can I… can we talk about something serious for a moment?”

 

Liam fully turns away from the stove and comes to the counter across from Zayn and Isam, “Of course, love.”

 

Isam takes a second before speaking again, “You remember my friend Aundria?”

 

“How could we forget? You two have been friends ever since you met in kindergarten,” Zayn chuckles.

 

“What if I told you guys… that I like her?” The last part comes out rushed, “Like really like her. I mean, I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t like boys like you guys do. At least I don’t think I do… I like girls. I like Aundria.”

 

Zayn stares at Isam in confusion, “What do you mean, Sam? You thought we’d be disappointed in you?”

 

Isam pauses and then says, “Not exactly… I didn’t know what you guys would think. It’s just, that’s the normal for our family, right? You guys, and then there is Uncle Lou and Uncle Harry…”

 

Liam speaks up this time, “Sam, as long as you’re liking someone who makes you happy and is a good influence, we aren’t going to be upset. If you like Aundria, that’s fine. More than fine. She’s a lovely girl and you know we both like her.”

 

Isam looks relieved, “Okay, and I’m sorry that it sounded like I was accusing you. I just didn’t know what to expect.”

 

“It’s fine, love. Remember, Baba and I both had to come out to our families, so we know that it’s a little scary,” Liam laughs.

 

“Yeah. Thank you,” Isam gives them both a hug and then takes the steps by twos on the way to his room.

 

“Don’t forget to make your bed! I know you didn’t do it this morning!” Zayn shouts out after him.

 

~

 

“Isam! Pizza is here!” Zayn yells down to the basement and then quickly grabs his and Liam’s pizza box and goes to the living room. He doesn’t remember being that aggressive when getting food at the age of 18. “Hey, babe.”

 

“Glad to see you saved our dinner from the boys.”

 

Zayn grunts out a reply as he sits down next to Liam and they both pick their pieces and start eating. When they boys grab their food and retreat downstairs it gets quiet again. Soraya is at Lou and Harry’s house, still best friends with Darcy after all these years and trying to spend as much time with her friend before they both move back into college for fall term. Even Isam will move away at the end of summer and Zayn doesn’t know how he feels about that. He knows for sure though that Liam isn’t looking forward to having such an empty house after all these years. Adopting their kids was, without a doubt, one of the best decisions of their lives and Zayn isn’t looking forward to seeing them move out and start careers and families of their own.

 

He’s brought back from his thoughts when Liam gives him a soft nudge with his elbow, “Stop thinking so much, love,” Liam says like the mind reader he is.

 

Zayn smiles and they finish their pizza while watching the beginning of their Batman movie marathon. When they’ve both finished eating, Liam takes their plates and sets them on the coffee table. He wraps his arms around Zayn’s waist and lays back, effectively pulling Zayn almost all the way on top of him and they stay like that until the end of the first movie. Zayn goes to put their plates in the dishwasher and throw the pizza boxes out and Liam grabs the other movies and goes upstairs. They meet in their bedroom and lay back against the headboards, pressed together, to watch the rest of the movies.

 

Just as the credits of the last movie are playing, they hear a knock at their bedroom door.

 

“Come in!” Zayn says and Liam moves off the bed to remove the DVD.

 

Isam pokes his head in, “I had to run up here to grab a different video game. Just wanted to say goodnight, love you.”

 

Liam and Zayn both give a “Goodnight, love you, Sam” and then the door shuts. They take turns brushing their teeth and changing before their both climbing back into bed.

 

As soon as Liam lays down he feels Zayn shuffle closer. He thinks he’s just going in for a cuddle but then Zayn swings his leg over Liam’s hips and sits down. He leans in to kiss him and Liam genuinely thinks Zayn’s intentions are innocent until Zayn gives a filthy twist of his hips right over Liam’s cock earning a shocked groan from where their mouths are connected.

 

When Zayn pulls back for air Liam hisses, “Zayn, we can’t! Isam has his friends over downstairs!”

 

Zayn leans back in and chooses to murmur as he makes his way down Liam’s neck with a sloppy trial of kisses and bites, “Isam just came up to say goodnight, so they’ll be down there until morning. No one is going to hear us, love.”

 

“But what about… what about an emergency?” Liam’s brain isn’t working as well as it normally does and his hips strain up to keep the friction with Zayn’s.

 

“They’re 18, Liam. And they're only playing video games, there won’t be an emergency. You know what I think you’re worried about? I think you can’t get it up anymore and you’re trying to distract me,” Zayn teases, hoping that it spurs Liam into going with it.

 

“I can too get it up!” Liam shouts and then burns with embarrassment and remembers the guests in their house, “I can, Zayn. I’m just…” and Liam cuts off with a long moan at the feel of Zayn’s hands over his cock, rubbing him through his jeans.

 

“You’re what?” Zayn smirks. He’s not expecting an answer. He and Liam haven’t done anything physical in a while now, and everything feels so good that just a while ago Zayn was worried about coming just grinding against Liam.

 

“Take your clothes off and then turn over, Li. Hands and knees.”

 

He stands up to work his own clothing off and then grabs the lube and a condom from their bathroom. When he gets back, Liam is face-down on the bed, rutting against it. Zayn admires the roll of his body when he thrusts down, and then closes in behind him and grabs his hips to drag him up, “Thought I said hands and knees, babe.”

 

“Sorry, Zayn. It just feels so good. I can’t even think right now, fuck.”

 

“S’okay, love,” Zayn whispers and slides his slick fingers against Liam’s rim.

 

Liam outright moans at that and he only gets louder as Zayn continues. Soon enough Liam is hard and begging and Zayn’s aching for it. He pulls his fingers out and grabs a condom, slotting his cock between Liam’s cheeks, "I’ll go slow at first, babe, okay? It’s been a while.”

 

Liam only nods, and as soon as Zayn is pushing in his mouth opens in a silent moan and his forehead creases. He stops when he’s bottomed-out and gives Liam a second before he starts moving. And the thing is, he knows he told Liam the boys wouldn’t be able to hear them, but that was with the assumption that Liam would only be as loud as he normally is when they have sex. As it is, Liam is outright moaning and whining as Zayn fucks him.

 

“I need you to be quiet, Li. We don’t want the boys to hear. Think you can do that, babe?” He asks, still going slow in fear that if he really starts moving Liam will be loud enough to wake up the neighbors.

 

Liam shakes his head no, “Feels so good, Zayn. Fuck, harder please.”

 

Zayn gets an idea then. He drapes himself over Liam’s back and clamps one of his hands over Liam’s mouth. Any hesitance he had about silencing Liam like this is gone when he sees Liam squeeze his eyes shut and hears the muffled moan that escapes his mouth. “So fucking loud, love, yeah? Need me to shut you up,” he says, picking up the pace and fucking Liam with intent now, “Look at you. You need me to hold your mouth shut because you sound so filthy right now, babe.” They had experimented with dirty talk before, but it must be the hand clamped around Liam’s mouth that does it for him because he’s already clenching around Zayn like he’s close to coming.

 

Zayn is getting close, too, so he pushes Liam down so he’s lying flat against the mattress. And Zayn has been in Liam’s position before so he knows how good it feels to be fucked with his dick rubbing off on the bed, and isn’t surprised when Liam comes quickly after that. He follows Liam over after a few extra thrusts, only removing his hand from Liam's mouth when they’re both finished and he slips out of Liam. Zayn leaves to throw the condom and grab a cloth to clean them up with. He throws it on the floor next to their clothes when he’s done and they roll over to the far side of the bed to avoid Liam’s come.

 

Zayn is laying on his back with Liam half sprawled on top of him, face buried in Zayn’s neck, and Zayn is almost sleeping when he hears Liam whisper sleepily, “Told you I could still get it up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like getting kudos and comments and feedback :)

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if this isn't fantastic or anything, like I said, this is the first story I've written. Feedback is appreciated :)
> 
> P.S. I don't know what happened to the bowl of popcorn at the end but I believe Liam would be sensible enough to move it to the floor or something before climbing on top of Zayn.
> 
> You can find me on [ tumblr ](http://histwenty7tattoos.tumblr.com/) here


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